After Tendou and Kyosuke's inauguration ceremony was over, the people of Veda returned to their homes.
There were some of them who were willing to walk far from their homes just to see the ceremony.
But fortunately, everything went well despite an unexpected incident, which was the assassination attempt of the Veda's king by the underworld organization Z Factor.
It was quite a shock to Tendou, just imagine that on the first day he was appointed as Meika's official subordinate, something quite horrible happened.
And that was the point where Tendou wanted to become stronger than ever.
Although he knew he had improved, Tendou felt he was still not enough when compared to the king's right and left hands, Jun and Kirara.
Tendou hoped that one day the king would put his full trust in him and make him someone he could rely on.
Thus, he kept practicing and practicing.
Until unconsciously, a month had passed.
Without any important tasks or direct orders from the king, Tendou only spent time training, keeping himself fit, or increasing his body strength.
But wasn't that kind of dull?
Tendou then slapped his cheeks with both hands to wake himself up from overthinking.
Overthinking would certainly spread to one's mind when feeling lonely, and that was exactly what Tendou felt as he seemed not to be noticed by the king anymore.
Would he be banished?
Would the king find another slave who might be much stronger than Tendou?
He was just a slave, of course it was the king's choice if he needed another slave who was even more useful.
He knew, however, that he should not think like that. But there was no other choice, it was not like he wanted to think about it.
And since her inauguration as the king's official slave, she had not even received an assignment from the king that led him to spend time in the field or forest behind the palace practicing and hunting.
"1501, 1502," Tendou counted the number of push-ups he did in his room.
His body was covered in sweat, but he was not tired at all. What was tired was his mind because it did not stop overthinking what the king would do to him.
'This is bad, loneliness will make one weak and I don't want that' Tendou thought.
Then Tendou stopped what he was doing, tried to catch his breath to calm himself down and changed his position to sit on the floor.
Tendou's daydream came to an abrupt halt after someone forcibly entered his room.
It was neither Meika, Jun nor Kirara because they were heading out to the city, and apart from the three of them there was only one other person who dared to do that and disregard other people's personal space, he was Kyosuke or Slave 2.
"Hey fool, did you hear that?" said Kyosuke.
With a long sigh Tendou replied nonchalantly, "You mean the sound of the door you just broke?"
Kyosuke was always like that. He always interrupted Tendou when he was doing something, and judging by his gestures, he seemed to be just like Tendou, restless and feeling lonely.
"Instead of you coming here just to bother me, you better practice. 1503, 1504" Tendou continued his push ups, he didn't want to spend time for nothing and preferred to ignore Kyosuke.
Kyosuke was very talkative, as seen from his excitement when he was first summoned in this world. In contrast to Tendou who was quiet, trying to process what he had experienced.
And after a long time they lived in this world, Tendou realized that the world there was not bad and he decided to live better than the previous world.
After a month of living in that world, Tendou certainly noticed the difference they had experienced, the rapid development of their once pathetic bodies this time could be considered very satisfactory. They both had muscles all over their bodies, arms, backs, six-packs, even legs.
Therefore, Tendou chose to be stronger than the strongest so that he could not be replaced by anyone else.
"Not that, stupid!" Kyosuke replied loudly.
Seeing Tendou working hard like that, Kyosuke wanted to tease him a little by sitting on the back of Tendou who was doing push-ups seriously.
"Hey! Get off my back right now!" Tendou said.
"What's wrong? You're not strong? If you look weak like that, there is a chance that His Highness Meika could replace you~" Kyosuke replied with a giggle.
Hearing this, Tendou was silent and began to continue.
Just like Tendou, Kyosuke also noticed the anxiety in Tendou. He was aware of the fear of being replaced by someone else, hence Tendou was always practicing, and Kyosuke was always watching him secretly.
"Hey, I know you're anxious. But can you calm down a bit?" asked Kyosuke.
There was no answer from Tendou, the only sound that came out of Tendou was the sound of very heavy breathing because he was trying to do his workouts with weights on his body.
"I'm just like you, we're afraid of being replaced. We're afraid of being discarded. We fear loneliness." Kyosuke continued. "How about you, do you think His Majesty cares about us?"
Caring? What did he mean by caring? Tendou himself did not know what it felt like to be cared for by someone so he did not know what Kyosuke meant.
Wouldn't if they cared, they would always need them? Always spending time with them?
Or was it just Tendou's imagination of the care he had always longed for?
"Because I think he cares about us~" Kyosuke continued his sentence again making Tendou flinch and fall to the ground and causing Kyosuke to pound Tendou's body, "Uwagh~ Hey are you alright?" asked Kyosuke.
"Hey, why do you think His Majesty cares about us?"
"Why? He still lets us live in his palace, accommodates our lives and lets us continue practicing as we please. Isn't that proof enough that he cares about us?" Kyosuke smiled happily.
Looking back slightly, he saw Kyosuke grin slightly and it made his heart calm down a little.
The words he needed this time sounded into his ears and echoed into his heart, and closed the anxiety in his mind.
'That's right, I foolishly tried to ignore all the kindness that Your Majesty has given me' Tendou tried to calm himself down.
Tendou thought Kyosuke was not much different from himself, but after hearing those words from him, Tendou realized that Kyosuke was much stronger and mature than him.
After calming down a bit, Tendou spontaneously stood up, making Kyosuke who was still on Tendou's back fall down.
"Hey! Slow down!" Kyosuke said.
"You're right, I overlooked everything His Majesty has given me, I should have been grateful for what I still have."
"Right?" Kyosuke chuckled again. He then laid down on the floor while looking up, "In my previous world, I had a very close friend who was always with me."
"Isn't that fun?" Tendou replied.
"Of course, but... He left me... No... I always thought that way, until I finally realized, he just had his own life."
"What's wrong? Did he move out of town?"
"No... I heard that he sacrificed himself for his brother. He died a long time ago."
The atmosphere instantly turned gloomy, and Tendou did not know what to say.
The dark past was certainly very traumatic, if Tendou said the wrong words, it could make Kyosuke remember the old wounds he had long harbored.
"I..."
A loud laugh then was heard from Kyosuke, and when Tendou looked at Kyosuke, Tendou was surprised that Kyosuke was smiling. "Why do you look nervous like that? Didn't I tell you, it's an old story. So you don't have to be afraid. He has his own life, so you don't have to worry."
Kyosuke was very calm, despite talking about old wounds, he was not at all daunted and sad.
So, what Tendou had suspected all along was true, seeing how steadfast Kyosuke smiled like that made Tendou realize how much of a difference in strength Kyosuke and himself had.
Loneliness, can make one weak.
And Tendou was sure, if he fought against the current Kyosuke, he would lose badly.
Therefore he promised that from now on, he should be grateful and forget the sadness in his heart in order to be strong.
"Well... I'm sorry for your loss. And, what do you want to say? Didn't you come here to say something?"
Kyosuke remembered and finally stood up to approach Tendou, "Did you hear that? We're going to the best school in the center of the city!" Kyosuke looked very happy.
And on the other hand...
Tendou with sweat pouring out bit by bit, "S-School?"