Edited by: ASaltedFish
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Ellery notified the relevant people about Darya moving into his childhood home, making sure they knew and understood so she wouldn't be harassed for living there even after he moved out.
With that settled, he had Seth clean up the guest room, which was originally his brother's room. It was the only room available for her to sleep in.
Finishing that, he ordered some food and waited for Darya to arrive with her things. They didn't live too far from each other, but she had a lot of things to pack, so it took her a few hours to get all of her stuff to the house. Whatever was left in the apartment was maintained by a housekeeping robot that she already had.
The place would be used as storage while she waited for Orin to come back.
Ellery talked about the arrangements with Aster, who didn't mind. Darya was Ellery's family, even if they weren't biologically related. They were still related legally, and they only had each other in a sense. Plus, they wouldn't be living in this house after a couple of weeks, so he had no reason to be upset.
Aster didn't want to resume control any time soon, so Ellery had control of their body for the time being.
It was strange, now that Aster and Ellery's souls were situated in their body, it felt like they both had equal control of the body. It was almost like a personality disorder, but they had much more control over it.
When Aster first came into the body, Ellery felt like his own soul would detach from his body at any given time. That wasn't the case now. This felt like his body again, which was a strange feeling.
Though, he did feel that he would have to make sure Aster came back to the forefront from time to time or the man would never leave their consciousness…
Maybe they really should figure out how to separate their souls. How would they do that if they only had one body, though? It was something he needed to think about.
*****
Once Darya got situated in Ellery's childhood home, Ellery felt more relieved to go on his date with Adjutant Ito.
Ito Akimitsu arrived at Ellery's house and, for the first time, felt anxious. Even though he was Marshal Caecius' Adjutant, he had never been on a date before. Everyone who approached him had ulterior motives toward his boss, so in the end, he felt like it was impossible to find someone who liked him for who he was.
Then he met Ellery. Confident, beautiful, and intelligent. The only problem was that he was sharing his body with another soul who was extremely compatible with Marshal Caecius…
He didn't hold any resentment toward his best friend. He loved, respected, and looked up to his friend, he just didn't want to fight his friend to be with someone.
He wished they were in two separate bodies, so they would be able to be a couple without it being complicated.
Akimitsu sighed and thought he should see if there was anything he could do in this situation.
As he was thinking, Ellery walked out to see Akimitsu pacing in front of the door. He looked like he was thinking about something serious because he didn't even notice Ellery walk out.
"Hello, Adjutant Ito, I'm here." Ellery did his best to get his attention.
Akimitsu finally snapped out of it and almost got his breath taken away with what Ellery was wearing. "You… You can just call me Akimitsu."
Ellery was wearing a white cropped tank top that sat halfway up his torso. It covered his pecs, but he could still see Ellery's stomach. He then wore a sheer mesh button-down shirt on top of it. The blue button-down had a floral design across the top of the chest, shoulders, and back. He also wore gray pants that were cut just above the ankle with black and white shoes.
For accessories, Ellery wore a pair of earrings alongside a couple of bracelets and rings. His pointed earrings were made of silver and dangled from his earlobe. Overall, it was rather simple but looked stylish.
It was a lot different from how Aster would dress himself. It was also the first time Akimitsu had seen Ellery dressed this way.
"Okay, Akimitsu, how do I look?" Even though Ellery was asking, he knew he looked good. He just wanted to hear Akimitsu say it.
Akimitsu stopped ogling and responded, "You look amazing! You look very beautiful in everything you wear."
Ellery smiled happily. "Thank you. It seems you know how to compliment people." He was satisfied with Akimitsu's answer.
The two made their way to a popular restaurant that wasn't too expensive or fancy. The food was good, and they didn't need to make reservations.
It was a famous noodle restaurant known for its hand-pulled noodles that weren't made by robots. The soup was a rich bone broth that had been cooking for more than 24 hours. It was similar to the ramen that Aster was familiar with, however, the noodles were a bit different.
Ellery and Akimitsu were able to sit down by a window on the second floor and got a beautiful view of the city.
The two ordered their food and drinks using the screen at the table and decided to get to know each other.
"Marshal Caecius and I are the same age. Our families are very close, and we went to school together. From an early age, I knew I would have to support Marshal Caecius, and it is something I take pride in as his adjutant!"
Even though Ellery asked Akimitsu to talk about himself, he somehow started talking about Marshal Caecius too. Well, it made sense to Ellery because Marshal Caecius was and will always be a huge part of Akimitsu's life.
To keep the topic focused on Akimitsu, Ellery tried to ask questions that were more focused on him rather than the Marshal. "Do you have any hobbies?"
Akimitsu had to think about this because he didn't have a lot of free time. Then he thought about his scarce vacations and felt that they could be considered as a hobby. "Well, I enjoy traveling in my free time and like to go to different planets to enjoy the scenery. I do not get to do this often, though, but when I do, I always choose a place I've never been to. I like to study the culture, customs, and food, as well as planning where I want to go when I visit!"
"Then, in the future, we should definitely go traveling together!" Ellery was glad that there was something that Marshal Caecius wasn't involved in. "You can do all the planning, and I will accompany you." He gave a sweet smile that seemed to melt the coldest of ice.
Akimitsu was stunned by his smile, but his face lit up as he gave a goofy grin. "Then let's plan for the next vacation. If there's somewhere you want to go, let me know!"
"I will take a look and see."
Then Akimitsu asked about Ellery and his family, hobbies, school life, friends, and even about Aster. For some topics, Ellery didn't go into much detail, but Akimitsu was okay with that.
After a while, Ellery brought up the topic of guiding because he was about to start offering guiding services. It was good to know who you are guiding, so Ellery asked the common questions. "And how about your experience with other guides? Is there something I should know about you before we begin guiding sessions?"
Akimitsu thought about it for a moment before replying. "I have had guiding sessions with a few guides, but our compatibilities were only average. I didn't have any intense reactions with them either. However, my bear ears will occasionally pop up when I get too excited. I've learned to control it, but I do not know if I can control it during our guiding session…"
"Okay, I will keep that in mind. Since it's going to be the first time you experience a guiding session with someone who has a high compatibility with you, we can start with a simple guiding session. I won't do a deep cleaning, just surface-level. I will then slowly increase how much I guide until you are used to it and we can do deep cleaning sessions once a week."
"That sounds good to me."
Guides call it cleaning because they are getting rid of impurities and chaotic energies in the spiritual seas. It leaves the spiritual sea looking brand new, so it does feel like the guide is cleaning out the spiritual sea.
While the two were talking and getting to know one another, many people were looking at them from a distance. Ellery was a well-known person because of his ranking and his two spiritual guides. No matter where he goes, people would always be looking at him.
As for Akimitsu, he was Marshal Caecius' adjutant and, at times, would speak to the masses when Marshal Caecius was unable to, so his face was also well known.
People could not get close because of Ellery's bodyguards, but some people snuck pictures to show other people online.
Ellery knew that he could not avoid the public eye, so he didn't get upset. Plus, they chose a restaurant that didn't have private rooms. Ellery didn't want to avoid people altogether. He wanted to enjoy the bustling surroundings, like restaurants, for as long as he could.
Still, he enjoyed his time with Akimitsu who seemed goofy and fun, but he was a gentle, caring, and considerate man.
He wished he had met Akimitsu in his past life; if he had, he wouldn't have experienced so much heartache and even death.