[ABO BL Anthology] Time Cross Academy

Panotti of the Opera (8)

Klick was worried. Floopy had refused to go anywhere else apart from classes and back to his room. The composer was so absorbed in making the 'perfect song' that he started neglecting his meals and sleep. It had been going on for a few days and Klick had never seen his friend in such a state. It was worrying.

"Come on, you have to sleep."

Floopy ignored the bat demon. "One last round," he mumbled and looked through the sheet music again. Today was the fifth day and Floopy did a lot of research about rap music. He even thought about the entire choreography for the musical that featured Syris as his muse. This was the theme song and he wanted it to be flawless when he delivered it to Syris.

Knowing that his little friend wouldn't budge, Klick sighed and went to bed on his own. There was no use in persuading Floopy to do otherwise, the panotti was dead set on writing the best love song in the world. Who was he to stop a friend who was serious in the pursuit of love? As a friend, Klick could only watch him by the side, cheer for him and hope that Floopy doesn't get his heart broken.

>>Xxx Destiny Aitsuji xXX<<

Syris couldn't sleep. His mind was filled with the panotti who he hadn't seen for days. Every lunch break, the siren would swing by the greenhouse but ever since that day, Floopy was nowhere in sight. He asked Bruce to find out where the panotti went and if anyone had been bullying the kid but his bodyguard's reply only made the prince more puzzled.

Why would Floopy be locked in his room immediately after class ended? The betas said that it had gotten so bad that nobody really knew if Floopy attended classes. In fact, the librarian hadn't seen the boy for a few days. This was the first case it has happened ever since he came to the academy. After hearing that, Bruce added one more thing that made the prince really worried. Floopy's roommate was seen packing back food for him and that meant the panotti wasn't taking care of his meals.

Why would Floopy work so hard for him to arrange a meeting with the legendary composer? Was it really worth it? Forget about the composer, Syris was more worried about what that composer was making Floopy do. While it was nice to be able to sing, Syris didn't want it to be at the cost of such a wonderful boy.

As Syris tossed and turned, Bruce sighed. His prince was probably worrying about that panotti boy. He might have not seen the boy in person and he didn't think that Floopy had any ulterior motives for befriending his prince. However, he didn't like it when they bothered Syris and took advantage of his kindness. More importantly, he disliked weak people who didn't stand up for themselves or try fighting for their rights. The shark merman didn't have a good impression of Floopy who couldn't even gather enough courage to deliver a letter to his prince in person.

Contrary to what Klick thought that night, Bruce caught sight of the bat demon sneaking around, trying to find their room before he delivered the letter. He heard some rumours about Floopy and his roommate. While Floopy was often the one getting bullied, Klick was often teased. However, there was one distinct difference. Floopy would whimper and cry, Klick would come to his defence and tolerate the bullying directed towards him instead. Bruce couldn't help but wonder why the bat demon would put up with the bullying if he could defend Floopy.

Speaking of bats... there's one right outside the window and Bruce didn't feel like entertaining unwelcomed guests. His prince may tolerate the special delivery service but Bruce wasn't having it.

Syris heard fluttering outside of his window and a shadow but he didn't register it immediately, half asleep and still thinking of Floopy. The shadow came over for a second time outside the window and hovered for a while, blocking the moonlight and the clicking sound of their windows being opened made him slightly wary. However, before the siren could react, Bruce was already there with his spear pointed at the intruder's neck.

"Leave," the shark merman growled and Syris sleepily got up to see who it was. The room was dark and the prince couldn't see their face but he heard them mention something about a delivery for him.

"For me?" he asked and Bruce growled.

"I said leave."

There was no negotiation in Bruce's words and Klick could smell the bloodlust in the air. For some reason, the bodyguard was in a really bad mood. Syris didn't know what was wrong with Bruce but he quickly told the bat to leave, fearing that his friend would snap and kill someone. It wasn't the first time it happened but Syris didn't want such a thing to happen in the academy. The delivery bat boy was innocent and Syris made plans to talk to Floopy tomorrow no matter what. It must have been Floopy's letter again and getting rejected like this must really hurt the panotti.

"Bruce!" Syris hissed once the shark merman closed the window. "What's wrong with you?"

Instead of answering immediately, Bruce glared at Syris. "That should be my question. What's wrong with you? Didn't you know that visiting dormitories of a different second gender is not allowed? That bat is a beta."

In truth, Bruce knew that this was just an excuse. He would have continued pretending to be asleep and allowed the blind bat to deliver what he came for if Bruce didn't see what he was holding. Heck, a love letter would be better than song sheets. Who would have thought that the panotti would be so cruel to send song sheets to his friend who had a complex about being tone-deaf? Was he mocking him?

"He had better not come back or I will eat him the next time," Bruce growled and shoved Syris aside to go outside for a walk. He was so angry but there wasn't much he could do. If Syris saw the songs, he would try to sing and Bruce didn't want the last remaining hope to crumble away. So what if Floopy managed to get in touch with the legendary composer? Getting a good song didn't mean that Syris' tone-deafness was cured. If anything, this false glimmer of hope was crueller than accepting the depressing reality that Syris would never sing in this life.

While Bruce walked around to cool off, a certain bat demon flew back with a heavy heart. His friend worked very hard on this but yet, he failed to deliver it. What should he tell Floopy? If Floopy knew, he would definitely risk his life to try and deliver this to the siren prince. Klick couldn't allow that to happen, the shark merman was a madman!

Instead, the assassin tried to think of another way. If he couldn't bring the songs to Syris, he should just make Syris come to Floopy.