Chapter 21: From The Shadows

Even if he inhabited a clueless, clumsy body, Sebastian was aware of his senses being where they needed to be, so after wandering for a while, he could tell that someone was following him. The attempt from earlier that day rushed to mind immediately. After all, as wrapped as he had been in indulging in forbidden pleasures with Milo, he had failed to think properly of the true meaning of being thrown into a strange world like this one.

The most logical explanation was that someone wanted to bring Ifigia to its doom by removing him from the throne. Why that someone had chosen that strange manner of handling such a thing was beyond his comprehension. Unless, he thought, as he stopped, that someone had also sent a minion along to ensure that Prince Sebastian would never return to his world.

“Who are you and why are you following me?” He turned quickly on his heels to surprise the adversary that was stalking him from the shadows.

To his surprise, he found himself face to face with that pig-like-faced boy from school named Chet. The same Chet Milo had suspected to have thrown that rock only hours ago. He was accompanied by two other boys and grinned like an idiot.

Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”

Something from his manner of speech seemed to surprise Chet for a bit because he shifted his weight from one foot to another and looked at his acolytes as if they could help him understand.

“Were you sent to assassinate me?” Sebastian asked and narrowed his eyes. Lost in thought as he had been, he had wandered off, and he had no idea where exactly he was. It wasn’t yet evening, but the alley didn’t appear to be much-circulated at that hour.

At his question, Chet and the other two began neighing like horses. As if Sebastian was some kind of jester supposed to entertain them.

“Just listen to this dork,” Chet barked and pointed at him. “Assassinate him? Who do you think you are? The king of England?”

“No,” Sebastian replied promptly. He had no idea if Kai was capable of fighting, and Milo pointed out that the body he was currently in was unfit for such endeavors, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t stand his ground. “I’m the prince of Ifigia, as you most probably well know.”

This time, Chet started to laugh so hard that he bent over from the waist while his companions followed his example. Things were starting to get stranger and stranger. If Chet was an assassin, he had to be of the most idiotic type. Since it appeared that obtaining information from him was a futile task, Sebastian thought it would be for the better to continue his walk and return home. The information required would surely reveal itself at the appropriate time. That or his would-be assassins were finally forced to show their hand.

The moment he started walking, Chet stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder. Sebastian shook it off effortlessly, and that triggered a different reaction.

“Hey, where are you going, lover boy? We were talking to you.” Chet hung his arm over Sebastian’s shoulders, making him stumble under the sudden weight for a moment. The unpleasant smell of an unwashed person made Sebastian grimace the moment Chet got so close without permission.

“You weren’t talking. You were just laughing like idiots,” Sebastian said. This time, when he tried to shake off Chet’s arm, he encountered a lot more resistance. “You are not allowed to touch me so casually,” he added, slightly disgusted with his assailant’s proximity.

“I’m touching you however I want. Were you with your boyfriend?”

Why did Chet want to know such a thing? Was all this about Milo, after all?

“That doesn’t concern you,” Sebastian said through his teeth and struggled more to get Chet away from him. It was at least unnerving how feeble Kai’s constitution was.

“Did you kiss?” Chet pouted his ugly lips and made weird sounds while trying to get close to Sebastian’s cheek. His mouth smelled even more disgusting than the rest of his body.

This time, Sebastian steeled himself and managed to push Chet away. He straightened his clothes. “As I said, it doesn’t concern you.”

“No shit.” Chet pushed against his shoulder, making him half-turn without wanting to. “Do Milo’s teammates know?”

“I see no reason to continue this conversation.” Sebastian made another attempt to leave. He could make no sense of what that boy was talking about. And he was starting to have his doubts about the assassination attempt.

Chet jumped in front of him, and this time, pushed him hard enough to make him lose his balance and fall. The pig-like face loomed over him. “It’s a simple question, nerd. Do they know?”

“Know what?” Sebastian asked while he began looking around to evaluate his surroundings and find a strategy to even the odds of having to fight against Chet and his acolytes. They were crowding around him with menacing looks on their faces.

“That he’s putting his dick in a dude,” Chet said.

Sebastian grimaced. “Are you always this crass? I can imagine how your social life must be, forced to hang around with this lot.” He gestured with his chin toward Chet’s companions. At the same time, while taking advantage of how Chet was engaged in another collective laughter with the others, he felt the ground under his fingers and began moving his hand around.

Chet hovered above him. His eyes were mean and cold. “This nerd is something else. Do you guys hear him?”

The others confirmed with another bout of laughter.

Sebastian curled his right hand around the soft soil and attacked quickly. The dirt spread into small pieces and hit Chet in the face, taking him by surprise. At a moment’s notice, he was back on his feet, pushing against Chet’s chest hard and making him stumble and land on his ass. Right away, screams of anger broke out. The fight was uneven, and he didn’t need the confirmation that Kai’s body wouldn’t handle a battle with such uneven odds too well. As disgusted as he felt with running away from a confrontation, he had no choice at the moment. Starting tonight, he would ask his phone what he could do to learn how to fight. As things looked, there were assassins sent to kill him, as unskilled as they seemed, and he needed to fend off for himself.

Unfortunately, Kai’s body wasn’t adept at running either, so an angry shouting Chet finally caught up with him and pushed him, making him hit the sidewalk, face first. Sebastian groaned and brought his hands to his face. His nose appeared to be bleeding. A minor wound, but the pain was annoyingly real. He shook his head and turned on his back to push himself up, not wanting to give his opponents the satisfaction of imagining that he was cowering in fear.

“This dude just hurt himself!” Chet laughed like an idiot. “I barely touched him, and he’s bleeding!”

Sebastian stood up and wiped his face with the back of his hand. “If you intend to fight, at least do it honorably.”

“We’re not in one of your stupid video games, dork.” Chet circled him and smacked him upside the head.

Sebastian brought his arm up without thinking and hit Chet right in the face. His weapon of choice was a sword, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t use his bare hands if need be, and it looked that some of his knowledge of that still existed, even in that puny body.

Chet clutched his face and squealed. “You hit me! Guys, catch him.”

Sebastian wanted to reply that he had no intention to run this time, but the two acolytes grabbed him by his arms, and Chet landed a vicious punch right at his belly. As much as he tensed all his muscles before being hit, Sebastian doubled over and cursed inwardly for being forced into such an inadequate body.

“How about you cry like a baby and beg for mercy?” Chet hissed.

Deep anger was starting to blossom everywhere. Sebastian looked up. “Never,” he said with dignity.

Chet punched him in the face, and Sebastian barely kept in another groan as the pain flared. His nose was indeed bleeding, and he could feel the warm blood pouring over his mouth and chin.

“I barely touch you, and you look so messed up,” Chet said with glee. “Dorks are no satisfaction,” he told the others.

“If you met me in a fight fair and square, I would give you the satisfaction you seek,” Sebastian replied. “What is your weapon of choice?”

That only managed to make his attackers laugh again. He hated his current body; the punch to the stomach was sure to leave a painful bruise, and the blood that kept pouring from his nose appeared to come with the unexpected side effect of making him feel a bit light-headed.

“I’m not going to lose my time with you, loser,” Chet said and wagged a finger at him. “You’re not even worth beating. But leave Milo alone, or his teammates will learn about you two.”

“It is possible that they know already. I fail to see the meaning of your threat,” Sebastian said as calmly as he managed while the various pains in his body continued to torture him.

“They don’t know, or else, Milo would be off the team like this,” Chet said and snapped his fingers.

Sebastian frowned. Milo was playing basketball, and after what he kept saying, it was an essential part of his life. There were also competitions similar to tournaments, and Milo seemed to be quite adept at that sport. Therefore, what he could understand from what Chet was saying was that Milo would be excluded because they were boyfriends. He still couldn’t understand why that was a detail that anyone would have cared about and a reason to exclude someone from playing harmless sports.

“Why would he be off the team?” he asked.

Chet made a face like he couldn’t believe his ears. “Except for math and stupid French, you’re a total retard, aren’t you? Homos aren’t allowed to play!”

Sebastian’s frown deepened. He didn’t understand the word, but he could recognize an insult for what it was. The anger growing inside him was starting to bend to a different shape.

“So, if you want your boyfriend to keep playing, you’ll leave him alone,” Chet said, his ugly eyes glinting.

“You’re so smart, dude,” another boy commented. “You’re hitting him where it hurts! In his homo feelings!”

They all laughed again as they had just said something entertaining.

“But I also like hitting him in his stupid face!” Chet added.

Sebastian braced himself for another attack. He looked Chet square in the face, and under his direct stare, the other wavered for a moment like he couldn’t gather the courage to hit him again.

“What are you boys doing over there?” A male voice boomed from a fair distance.

“Shit. Let’s go!” Chet shouted at his acolytes, and they broke into a run right away, but not without pushing Sebastian down one more time.

Hurried steps approached, and Sebastian was yanked to his feet by a man in his forties, with a pair of thick glasses on his face. “Are you all right, kid? What did they do to you? Do you need the hospital?”

Sebastian winced, but the kindness of this stranger wasn’t what he needed right now. “No. It is nothing but a light wound.”

“Kids today.” The man shook his head. “Let me at least take you to a bus station just so those punks don’t bother you. Do you know them? Could you describe them if the police asked you?”

Police meant complications. Without getting to the bottom of all the intricacies of the world he was currently living in, Sebastian knew from the various series he had watched that the police were a corrupt organization that he couldn’t trust. “No. I didn’t see their faces well,” he replied politely. “But I will take you up on the offer to show me to a bus station.” According to the same series, he needed to find a way and exact his revenge without any help from outsiders.