Edited by: ASaltedFish
Ellery scoffed, [Aster, let me switch with you when you are done eating. I will put him in his place.]
Aster took his last bite, glanced at Leonard, and then looked away. 'The spotlight is yours.'
When Ellery successfully switched with Aster, he finally looked back at Leonard and rolled his eyes. "Why should I greet you when I have you blocked and blacklisted? It seems you don't know the meaning of being blacklisted. Should I have someone show you how to look it up in the dictionary?"
"You-!" Leonard was so offended he was speechless.
"Yeah. Me." He was unimpressed and ready to leave. Leonard was boring and predictable. Truly, a waste of his time.
Ellery texted the leader of his security team and told them to come into the cafeteria so Leonard couldn't act violently toward him when he left. Knowing they were on the way, Ellery waited for Leonard to get his words together.
He was a bit curious to see how Leonard would twist and turn while trying to put down his ego.
Leonard saw that Ellery looked uninterested, but he couldn't give up. With Darian facing criminal charges, there was no way he wanted to end up with him. Even his parents stopped nagging him to get with Darian and told him to apologize to Ellery.
He gritted his teeth and did his best to swallow his pride. "I just wanted to apologize for how I acted when you came back to school. My parents were the ones forcing me to be with Darian. You know that I like you a lot and want to be with you."
Even though Leonard said all of this, it sounded like he was being forced, and was aggrieved to have said this.
"Oh." Ellery's curiosity died and he now wanted to get Leonard to stop squeaking in his ears.
"Nothing is going on between me and Darian. I only see him as a little brother, but his parents kept telling him that I was his future husband which was getting to his head. I told you before that I wanted to be in a relationship with you, and I still feel that way. Can we at least try this time to make things work? I will make sure to never side with Darian ever again."
Leonard reached out to grab Ellery's hand but grabbed at the empty space on the table. Ellery had already pulled his hand away, not giving Leonard the chance to touch him.
[Ew… Can't even take accountability. Just pointing his greasy fingers at other people.] Aster unconsciously mimicked the way Ellery usually talked. He didn't even notice that he was influenced by Ellery.
'Took the words right out of my mouth.' He was proud of Aster at this moment.
Learning from the best.
Ellery almost laughed. "Like a wise person once said, it's gross when you can't take accountability for your own actions. Do you really expect me to just forgive and forget, dating you like nothing has happened? You are dreaming. It's time to wake up."
"Ellery! You are taking it way too far. I apologized to you, and this is how you treat me?"
"That was an apology? It just looked like you were passing the blame to someone else." He rolled his eyes again. "This conversation has ended. Lose my contact information and wipe me from your memory. I don't want to see you in front of me ever again."
Ellery stood up and grabbed his tray. Before he could step away from the table, Leonard also stood up to grab his wrist.
Thankfully, Mr. Keita came in time and grabbed Leonard's arm. "I apologize for being late, Mr. Aster. Is this man bothering you? Should I have him arrested?"
His security team came just in time.
Ellery watched Leonard try to escape Mr. Keita's grip, but it was no use. Leonard was not as strong as someone who had been in the military for decades.
"Thank you, Mr. Keita. Just make sure he doesn't come any closer to me. I am going to put my tray away; then we can head off to class."
"Understood."
"Let go of me! Do you know who I am? I am the heir to the Vales family! Ellery, tell him to let go, and we can talk this out like adults!"
Ellery and Mr. Keita ignored Leonard, who was screeching. Once Ellery was finished, Mr. Keita and the other members of the security team left with Ellery, leaving Leonard behind.
Leonard was stomping and shouting for them to stop, but Ellery didn't look at the one-man circus going on behind him.
[There goes your rest time.] Aster sighed.
'I think it was worth it to switch places. To see him squirming and screeching like that was kind of funny. I feel so much better now.'
Aster didn't understand why Ellery was feeling better but since he said so, then he would let it be. Plus, he also thought it was funny to see Leonard like that. He deserved it.
The two moved on with what had happened and pretended Leonard didn't exist. They were too busy to care for him. Plus, they were a month away before graduation.
Once Ellery and Aster graduated, they would focus on guide work and finding the Beast God and Orin.
With Ellery in charge of their body, Aster got some rest. It didn't take long for Ellery to recharge anyway, so this was an arrangement they were both okay with.
Only Edros and Akimitsu were able to notice when they switched. Even the people who had appointments with Ellery and Aster didn't seem to notice their change in auras or personalities.
That was how they were able to peacefully get through the next couple of weeks. They got ready for graduation and their meeting with Emperor Eliane.
******
On the day of the meeting, Ellery took charge of their body as promised. Aster stayed behind in their consciousness but was wide awake and was ready if Ellery needed him.
Well, he didn't know if he would be much help, but he was there as moral support.
Edros and Akimitsu picked Ellery and Aster up just as planned. Aster's security team couldn't come with him to the Imperial Palace, so having Edros and Akimitsu there would replace the security team while he was there.
They were all wearing formal suits, each with colors that matched their quantum beasts, and very happy with their outfits.
It took some time to get to the Imperial Palace, so Ellery asked Edros and Akimitsu about their progress in finding the Beast God and his brother, Orin.
Akimitsu was the first to report. "I've gathered all the documented rumors about the Beast God and found in the past couple of years; they seem to be traveling around the eastern border of the Zevaria Empire. It's near the area where your brother went missing.
"From what I can see, the Beast God and his wife will stay in one area for a decade and then move to the next area. Sometimes, they will stay in the Zevaria Empire and other times, they will go to other countries. Luckily, it's only been a couple of years since they arrived at the eastern border, so we should be able to find them."
It was a coincidence that the Beast God was in the area where his brother went missing… Still, it made it a lot easier for them.
Ellery asked an important question, "How often does the Beast God travel between planets? Is there a planet that they specifically have as their temporary home?"
"That, I don't know for sure, but it doesn't seem like they stay on a planet for a very long time. They could be on one planet for a day and then go to another planet for two days. Then there are breaks between travel where the Beast God has not been sighted. It's quite random."
"But that does confirm that they have a base planet they may go back to… We just have to figure out which planet it is."
Everyone agreed with Ellery's observation.
Edros nodded. "Since this is the case, we can have everyone focus on the Eastern border. There are currently… 98 habited planets and 56 inhabited on the Eastern border. It may take some time, but our forces should be able to sweep through and get as much information as they can."
Ellery heard the number of planets and felt exhausted. There were a lot of planets, but at least he wasn't looking through them by himself.
Edros had his team looking at the habited planets, while Akimitsu had his team looking for the Beast God on the inhabited planets.
With that settled, Ellery asked Edros about the Emperor and her family. He wanted to know how to interact with her and if she had any taboo topics he wasn't allowed to talk about. Overall, Emperor Eliane wasn't a bad person and she would rather people be casual toward her.
Edros did tell him to remember one thing.
Emperor Eliane was highly proficient in talking formally, casually, and even sarcastically. It was best to prepare himself because she was good at angering people, pinpointing their weak points, and using it against them. He needed to think twice before saying something.
Ellery could only thank Edros and go through different conversation outcomes in his mind.