It started all as a normal day at Ayanagi Academy…not.

Chiaki was walking outside, having been "ordered" to look for Shiki by Fuyusawa as he'd escaped his paperwork. Not that he blames the guy… It was a HUGE stack of paperwork.

As he was walking, he sees a flash of a familiar uniform.

He follows it and sees that it was Shiki. He texts the others as he does, eventually meeting up with them.

They follow Shiki to the outdoor stage, sitting down on one of the stones, only to see Hoshitani come not long after.

Hiding in the brush instinctively, they hear Hoshitani say, "Shiki-senpai…we've got to stop meeting like this…"

Shiki smiles, "It's not my fault you come here so often."

"Yeah…that's Otori-senpai's fault," Hoshitani smiles back, only to frown afterwards, "You tired?"

'He noticed?' the others think as they keep silent.

Shiki flinches before smiling, "No…I'm fine."

Hoshitani sighs, "I thought I told you~… You can share the burden with me. I'm sure the others would help too if you just asked."

Shiki's silent before saying, "Would I even still be a King then?"

"Of course!" Hoshitani yells, "But even a King still needs help from his subjects and friends, right?"

Shiki blinks before laughing, "Yeah…! You're right!"

The others are a bit shocked since they've never heard Shiki laugh before…and yet Hoshitani can make Shiki laugh so easily…

Then, as they were distracted, Shiki laid down on one of the stones and puts a book over his face.

"Oi!" Hoshitani yells when he realized what Shiki was doing. "Mou!" Hoshitani pouted, his cheeks red.

Shiki glanced at him from under the book, smiling teasingly. He gets up, drags Hoshitani to sit down, then puts his head in Hoshitani's lap.

This surprises both the Kao Kai hiding in the brush and Hoshitani as he blushes as he asks, stuttering, "S-Shiki-senpai…"

"Naptime…need to re-charge," is all he gets out of Shiki before the man falls asleep in his lap.

Sighing, Hoshitani could only stay there and try to be as still as possible. He didn't want to disturb Shiki, and since he was tired, a nap would probably help. Besides… looking at Shiki sleeping so peacefully…was kind of worth it.

After a while…which is about ten minutes, Hoshitani started to get leg cramps. And yes, he did notice the other Kao Kai members hiding in the brush. They're not exactly hiding very well either. He could see Irianastu's headphones pretty clearly.

They see Hoshitani's head turn towards their direction, puppy eyes looking their way, begging for help.

Sweat-dropping, Chiaki could only use his phone to take a picture of this scene since it likely wouldn't occur again. The others gave a helpless look at Hoshitani since they don't want to wake up their friend…and that they were caught red-handed spying on them.

A few minutes later… Shiki woke up. Slowly getting up from Hoshitani's lap, he turns towards his friends and smiles, "I know you guys are over there. C'mon out."

They could only reluctantly come out from the brush, a few leaves in their hair.

"Sorry…Hoshitani," Shiki says.

Hoshitani shakes his head furiously, "It's OK. You probably needed a nap anyway."

Fuyusawa interrupts, "You do know we have to punish you for being in an off-limits area, right?"

Hoshitani stands his ground, "You do realize that you were caught spying on us, right?"

It was a silent battle before Shiki stepped in, "Why don't we let this go, and pretend this never happened?"

Fuyusawa frowns but agrees, "Fine…"

Hoshitani sighs, "That's fine with me."

Chiaki, Irinanatsu, and Kasugano sigh in relief.

As they parted ways, Hoshitani went back to the dorms while Shiki was dragged back to work.

At the dorms…

Hoshitani was absent-mindedly thinking, 'They really are similar…' Of course, he was thinking of Otori and Shiki. Maybe they could meet up some time.

Meanwhile…

Chiaki sent the picture of Shiki and Hoshitani to the other Kao Kai members…and Nanjo. It was too cute a picture to not share.

Looking to his left, Shiki was working on that huge stack of paperwork with new vigour. Maybe that nap was all he needed…as well as Hoshitani.

And of course, they'll help their King with his burdens, even if he doesn't ask them to.

Omake:

Unbeknownst to Chiaki though… Nanjo sent the picture to everyone else…and by that, I mean not just the other teams but EVERYONE. Including the previous Kao Kai and the Ancients.

Uozumi was upset, Otori even more so, but still strained a smile. Tatsumi followed suit. Akatsuki was blushing, and so was Nayuki. The others were fine with it…albeit a bit worried about Shiki stealing Hoshitani away from Otori.

In hindsight, just that single picture caused a lot of chaos.