NOVEL WEB Arc#1 Chapter 6: Three Days (1)
Ken talked a bit more with the doctors and hospital staff, chatting about inconsequential things. He found conversing with them immensely enjoyable.
All this time, he'd known a bit about these people — seeing as he'd been a patient in the hospital for thirteen years — however, he had never really talked so carefreely with them until now.
Ken wanted to talk to them a bit more, so he invited all of them to dinner later that night, and said that anyone else who wanted to come should come.
They all thought it was a great idea, and agreed. Dr. Murphy, in particular, was ecstatic, saying that he would come even if he had to crawl there. After saying that he should still stay in the hospital for a while, in case his illness suddenly relapsed, the visitors all started to prepare to leave.
"Oh! That's right. My boy, you should get a more thorough check-up. Even if you appear well, there might still be some problems..." Dr. Murphy glanced worriedly at him, obviously still worried about Ken's condition.
"Uhm... I really am fine..." Ken was feeling troubled. He felt bad about refusing the old doctor's kindness, but he really had a lot of other things he wanted to do.
And so very little time to do them.
"But still..." The old doctor stubbornly insisted.
Ken was unable to get angry or exasperated, seeing as Dr. Murphy was just concerned for him. In the end, he just decided to play it off for later.
"Then... How about in three days? I have to visit a few places and tell them that I'm well now. So in three days, I'll definitely let you examine me more thoroughly."
"Three days... Fine, I suppose this old man can't be so stubborn as to not give in at this point." Dr. Murphy nodded, giving in. "Then you must definitely be here in three days, are we clear Mr. Ken?"
"Haha. Of course, doctor. I'll be here." Ken smiled reassuringly.
After everyone but the maids finally left, Ken sunk onto the couch and thought for a while, thinking about his next course of action.
'Hmmm... I suppose I'll visit home. It's been a while...'
He hadn't returned to the mansion ever since he was confined, so it had been thirteen years since he was last there.
Ken stood up and walked over to his bed, then retrieved a black box hidden underneath it. Inside it was an urn, containing the ashes of all the dogs he'd raised.
After Ken fell ill, the dogs moved into the hospital room with him, since they wouldn't calm down after he'd stopped showing up for a few days.
This would have normally troubled the hospital, but since the dogs were all incredibly well-behaved, nobody complained after a while — although the fact that Ken's family knew some people, helped silence any dissenters. These past thirteen years all of his dogs had gradually died of old age and he'd had them all cremated whenever they did, then placed them all in the same urn so that they could all be together.
Ken thought that when his time also came, he wanted his ashes to be placed inside as well.
'We'll finally return there, after a while, huh boys?' Ken stroked the urn lovingly while speaking in his heart. While he was thinking fondly of all his loyal dogs, who had stayed with him till their last moments, the door to his room suddenly banged open, startling Ken out of his skin. He even felt like his soul had left his body for a moment.
'F-fuck, I almost had a heart attack...' Ken clutched his chest unconsciously. He looked at the doorway, wondering who could actually be so audacious as to open the door like that. Even Dr. Murphy wasn't that bad, and he even worked here.
He also wondered what the hell the guards were doing.
"YOUNG MASTER KEN! I HEARD! HAVE YOU TRULY BEEN CURED!?" An old man — dressed in a way you'd expect only a butler would dress, complete with a black tailcoat and a monocle — ran into the room while screeching like a lunatic.
"Oh, it's just Hanzo." Ken heaved an exasperated sigh.
Now he knew why the guards weren't stopping someone who would dare to barge in here so loudly. It was one of the Kagami Manor's butlers, Hanzo.
"YOU REALLY ARE OKAY!" Hanzo exclaimed happily, as he saw Ken standing straight and holding onto an urn without grimacing in pain.
"Yes Hanzo, I'm okay. But if you continue shouting, my ears won't be." Ken grinned wryly at the old butler. He had been taken care of by this man since he was young. Despite the casual way he addressed and treated him, Ken actually thought of Hanzo as a father figure.
"M-my apologies. I was just so excited!" Hanzo's wrinkled face bloomed into a wide smile. He then walked forward and took the urn from Ken, placed it down on the bed, and started groping his arms, poking various parts of Ken's body with a serious look on his face. "Are you truly cured now, young master? You aren't just playing one of your pranks are you?"
"The pain really is gone now. Stop worrying. Also, stop touching me, getting felt up by an old man doesn't feel nice." Ken lightly slapped away Hanzo's groping hands. He then asked something he had been wondering about, "By the way, you arrived here quite quickly. Were you on your way to visit me when you heard?"
"Ah. Indeed, young master. I was only just informed of your recovery on the ride here. So I promptly ordered the driver to step on it, even if we accidentally ran over some people." Hanzo said with a straight face as if everything he said was just perfectly normal.
'No, don't run over people...' Ken scolded the butler in his mind since he knew that it would be a futile effort even if he did it for real.
"Have you informed anyone else?" Ken knew that the maids and guards assigned to him answered directly to Hanzo, not his father. So if the maids or guards informed anyone, it would only be this old man in front of him. If Hanzo hadn't informed anybody else, then everybody who knew of his recovery was currently in this hospital at the moment.
"A-ah. Forgive me, I was unable to inform anybody due to my haste..." Hanzo apologized for the second time today, bowing deeply this time.
"No. I actually prefer that you didn't. Only inform Father for now. Oh, and the people from the labs. Mother too, although I doubt she'll give a crap. Also, prepare the car, I want to go back home."
"Certainly. Hm? Young Mistress isn't in the manor at the moment. I believe she's at a different mansion. Shouldn't we inform her as well?" Hanzo raised an eyebrow.
"Kyouka will come to find me even if I don't look for her. She probably has a few people feeding her information and stuff." Ken smiled mischievously. "I just want to see how long it'll take before she comes."
"Hoho, I see. Understood." Hanzo nodded, a knowing smile on his face. "However, I did not bring a car for you young master. What shall we do about that?"
"Huh? What do you mean? Didn't you just say a while ago how you almost ran over people in your haste? I don't think I misheard." Ken frowned in confusion.
Though physically ill, he was confident in his mental health; he wouldn't forget a conversation they had literally just a few seconds ago.
"Ah, that? The car I rode here was a car for servants. We currently don't have one that is fit for your use." Hanzo took out his phone. "Please wait while I send for one. I promise it won't take too long."
"Wh— no. I'm fine with any car." Ken said, exasperated. He had forgotten about how fussy this old man was about the stupidest things. "I'll ride on that one."
"N-no, how could I let you ride on a car meant for servants? I insist, young master!" Hanzo pleaded stubbornly. "It really won't take too long. Just two—no, an hour! Please just wait, I'll tell them to rush over and get here in an hour!"
"I said it's fine!" Ken massaged the bridge of his nose, feeling guilty about shouting. "I don't wanna waste more time than I have to. Get the driver and let's go!"
"Y-yes, young master..." Hanzo finally gave up. He walked with his shoulders hunched forwards, towards the door.
Ken sighed in relief, It seemed the old butler had finally given in. He actually half-expected the back and forth to continue for a while before Hanzo agreed, but perhaps his happiness over Ken's improved condition made him less stubborn than usual. "Oh, I forgot to ask, is Father even home right now? It would be pointless to go there otherwise."
Hanzo, who had just been on his way outside, turned back and respectfully said, "Indeed, Master Koutarou is currently in the residence. He was planning to host a party with a few business associates and acquaintances. Which reminds me... it would be the perfect time to announce your recovery! So about the car, it would be unsightly if the Kagami House's young master arrives in—" Hanzo exclaimed, seeing a chance to try to change Ken's mind about the car.
"Is that so? Good. The car. Now." Ken shut him down immediately.
"Yes, young master..." Hanzo sighed as he walked off.
Ken then looked around the room, the trip back home would likely take an hour and a half at most. He would have to sit in the car the entire time so he looked around for things to bring.
'Guess I'll just go with my laptop.'
He could watch some of the anime episodes he missed due to his half-year coma while waiting. After placing it in a bag along with its charger, he picked up the urn with his dog's ashes carefully and started walking towards the exit to his room.
'Let's go back home for a bit, boys.' Ken spoke to his dogs inwardly. He was sure that if there was an afterlife, his dogs were still watching over him from their place in dog heaven or something.
"We're here, young master," Hanzo informed. He quickly alighted from the car's front seat, and then rushed to the other side to open the door for Ken.
"Mhm." Ken gave a short hum indicating his acknowledgment. He closed his laptop, placed it beside him, picked up the dogs' urn, and got out as well. He then gave the Kagami Manor a good look, the nostalgia starting to sink in.
"You know, I was never really bothered by it when I was living here, but goddamn this place is really something, huh."
After living away from it for so long, Ken now fully realized how extreme this Manor's construction is. Extreme in many ways. Luxury just happened to be one of them.
"Well, it is the Kagami Manor after all." Hanzo nodded knowingly.
"Hah. Yeah, our family is quite wealthy after all." Ken smirked.
Hanzo chuckled. "Indeed it is."
Ken walked towards the mansion's entrance with Hanzo by his side. He couldn't help but stare at the trees all around the manor, remembering the day they encountered that giant rat.
"Young master..." Hanzo said worryingly from the side.
"I'm okay Hanzo. It's all in the past now." Ken smiled reassuringly at him.
"I see. That is good." Hanzo felt relieved when he saw Ken's tranquil expression. "However it truly is a shame. We were never able to find that assailant. How absolutely infuriating! To actually dare sneak into the manor and use some chemical weapon to inflict disease upon its heir. How absolutely barbaric! Inhuman, even!"
"...True." Ken responded calmly to the old butler who had riled himself up. Bruno the dog had long died of old age already, so the only living beings that know the truth of the events that happened that day were Ken and Kyouka.
After the debacle thirteen years ago, Ken had passed out from the pain and exhaustion before awakening in the hospital to find that none of his limbs were rotten anymore.
But the pain was still there. In fact, it had spread to his entire body. However, from the outside, he looked completely normal.
Apparently, only twenty minutes had passed since Bruno had gone to get some help. Ken had been asked what happened, to which he lied and said that they were attacked by an unknown assailant who had infiltrated the grounds.
'I mean, who would have believed me if I said something like "We were attacked by a giant rat with black smoke coming out of its body!"? The answer is nobody. That's who.'
Ken's statement immediately sent those around him into a frenzy. The entire mountain that Kagami Manor was on was put on lockdown. Even the entire security team was mobilized to comb through the grounds, hunting for the assailant's blood.
However, hours passed and they were unable to find anything. It was to the extent that they started thinking that the young master had been lying. However, Ken was indeed in an obviously severe amount of pain, and Kyouka was indeed unconscious.
The servants knew that the two were a bit mischievous, but they would never pull a prank as big as this one.
Additionally, according to the people Ken asked, there was nothing strange about the ground or trees near the place where he and Kyouka were found. That meant that black mist and the ground polluted by the big rat's black smoke had disappeared. Even the black sword was presumably gone!
Everything had mysteriously returned to normal — as if nothing ever happened!
This strange turn of events baffled the young Ken, however, he quickly concluded that the reason that the black mist and polluted ground disappeared must have been because the big rat had died from its wounds.
He hoped that was the case. Although he wondered why he was still in pain, even though everything else was fixed.
In any case, Kyouka soon woke up, and Ken managed to cajole her into playing along with the story he had told everybody else.
The young Kyouka couldn't understand why Ken would lie about it. However, she just did as Ken told her to, since she knew her big brother knew what was best for them better than she did.
In any case, that was the truth spread out to the world. An intruder had infiltrated the grounds, accidentally stumbled upon the two children and their dogs, sprayed some kind of gas, and was chased away by the dogs. Then, said intruder managed to escape without being seen once.
"Master Koutarou, the young master is here to see you," Hanzo called towards the other side of a door.
Ken snapped out of his thoughts. It seemed that while he had been thinking of events in the past, he and Hanzo had made it to the front of his father's study.
"It's me, Father, may I come in?" Ken also called out. His demeanor had changed to be more businesslike — as if the one he was talking to wasn't a family member.
This was always how he talked to his father.
"...Enter" A deep and clear voice called out from inside the room. Hearing the response from the Manor's owner, Hanzo opened the door for Ken and ushered him in. Once Ken entered the room, he bowed from outside the room before quietly closing the door.
"You've been cured, I see." Ken's father, Kagami Koutarou said in his usual deep voice filled with calmness. And indifference.
"Yes, Father. The pain is gone, so I can walk around just fine." Ken respectfully answered while he inspected his father who had not even raised his eyes from the documents he was holding. The man hadn't looked at Ken since he entered the room.
Kagami Koutarou was a man of medium build. He had a crown of short black hair, with small traces of grey, and his countenance was of Japanese origin. Although he did not particularly look handsome, he could not be called ugly either. His eyes were sharp and a feeling of intensity could be seen from them; as if this man's focus would never waver.
Overall, he was not a physically attractive man, however, one could not ignore the feeling of pressure that he radiated. The aura of a man of power.
'Damn. He's what, fifty-one now? Yet it feels like he won't die even if I killed him or something.' Ken thought.
He had never been fond of this man as a son, however, Ken had to admit that his father was a scary bastard indeed. He had never even dared to make jokes in front of his father even when he was young, since Ken was scared witless by just being near him.
"That's good." Koutarou stated calmly, still not looking up from his documents. "The researchers from the labs have finally done their jobs."
The corners of Ken's lips twitched. He appreciated the help those people had given him greatly, so hearing his father insinuate that they hadn't been doing their jobs until now made him want to curse at his father, but he calmed himself down quickly.
"They've been an immense help. If it weren't for their hard work, I wouldn't've been able to stay alive for this long. It's ten years past the deadline the doctors gave me and I'm still here, as you can see. The disease I was afflicted with was one-of-a-kind too, so they've been working very well considering that they had to go into this blind and with so little to work off of."
"I see," Koutarou replied. That was all he said in response to Ken's tirade.
'Th-this fucker...' Ken swore at him inwardly. It made him feel like an idiot to get all worked up like that, then get answered so nonchalantly. He really wanted to snatch those documents away from his father's hands, wipe them on his bum, and then throw them to his face. That'd show him who's boss.
Of course, he wouldn't actually do it. But that wasn't because he was too scared or anything.
Definitely not.
'No, no. Calm down, I didn't come here to pick a fight.'
"So, how's Mother?" Ken asked, trying to find a new topic to talk about.
"Who knows." Koutarou calmly responded, as if it had nothing to do with him.
"Well, do you know where she is?"
"I don't. If you want to know, you can ask the butlers." Koutarou suggested indifferently. "They can find out for you."
"I was just a bit curious. It's not a big deal." Ken had just asked for the sake of asking. He didn't really want to know. "The relationship between you two is still the same, I see."
Koutarou had been typing something on his computer but stopped for a bit at Ken's words. It was only for a short moment though, as he quickly resumed while saying, "That's the case. You know the nature of our relationship."
"I do, yes." Ken nodded.
"Then there is nothing else to say," Koutarou said, with an implied finality to it. He was obviously not going to continue talking about this.
'I can see through you old man. I know you don't feel absolutely nothing about Mother.' Ken teased his father inwardly, perhaps as revenge for the man's previous offense.
Ken knew that his parent's wedding wasn't one out of love. His father had married Ken and Kyouka's mother, Angelina du' Mont, because he wanted her family's help in expanding his business abroad. Angelina's father, which is to say Ken and Kyouka's grandfather from their mother's side, engaged his daughter to Koutarou so that they could get a foothold for expanding in Asia.
It was just convenience all around.
However Angelina apparently had a lover during college, and they wanted to be together. Koutarou didn't care about her, so he didn't mind. So, his two parents had made an agreement not to interfere with each other's lives after they had at least one child.
Which they did.
They pretty much did whatever they wanted after Ken was born; Koutarou was able to expand to the west, and Angelina was able to be with the one she loved. And then they lived happily ever after.
Except, they didn't.
Ken's mother's story was one you could find in a lot of literature.
Rich-Pretty girl goes to school, Rich-Pretty girl meets a normal boy, Rich-Pretty girl and normal boy fall in love. But then calamity strikes, and Rich-Pretty girl's father engages her with some rich dude for the sake of the family. Then Rich-Pretty girl and normal boy are in a dilemma, what shall they do?
'It is a story as old as time itself. Okay, maybe it's not that old, but it's still pretty old.'
Aside from the fact she had to have a child first, it was perfect from Angelina's perspective. She could spend her life with the one she loved, and she would still be fulfilling her father's wishes.
Except that she only ended up being with the 'person-she-loved' for three years, before they broke up.
'Since Kyouka and I have an age gap of four years, it lines up with the breakup. In any case, something must have happened, otherwise, Kyouka wouldn't have been born.' Ken thought amusedly. He was convinced that there was a little more to his parents' love story than met the eye. 'Well, that's none of my business. They're big kids now, so they should handle their own shit.'
Ken stopped thinking about it. Or rather, he gave up. His father was most likely the only one of his parents that was currently in Japan, and he was definitely not going to reveal anything about this subject. Ken then proceeded to bring up topic after topic, and would only receive short answer after short answer from his father.
After a few of these exchanges, Koutarou finally looked up from whatever he was doing and stared Ken in the eye.
"So what is it you really came here for?" Koutarou demanded. Aside from the first few questions, Ken had only asked about mundane things. Koutarou was the kind of man who thought small talk was a massive waste of time.
And time — for him — was money, prestige, and power. He hated wasting time.
"What do you mean? I came here to pay my respects to you, show you I'm okay now, and maybe catch up a little too." Ken answered, feigning ignorance.
"Out with it." Koutarou demanded seriously, he was obviously not buying Ken's spiel.
"...It's about Kyouka." Ken hesitated a bit, but still spoke up while uncomfortably fiddling with the hem of his shirt.
"What about her." Koutarou, again, demanded.
"..." Ken wavered again, but after gathering his courage spoke out his true thoughts. "Look, I... have already given up on you and I forming any sort of relationship. A long long time ago."
"...Is that so," Koutarou said indifferently, then urged Ken to go on. "Continue."
"Kyouka is different though," Ken sighed while shaking his head. "She's still genuinely trying to connect with you two. I never even tried to have anyone find out about what you two are doing at the moment, however Kyouka, she knows what you two are up to all the time. She checks up on you two, she's curious about what you're doing... And I can tell that she loves you two."
"..."
"So... yeah. I don't really care how you treat me, I'm honestly happy with you just chucking money at me. I just thought that maybe you could do something on your end...? For her." Ken pleaded.
"..." Koutarou stared indifferently at Ken's for a while, before opening his mouth and saying, "Noted."
Koutarou then looked back down at the documents he had been fussing over since a while ago.
"..." Ken stayed silent as he stared at his father, however, he was actually happy with how that conversation went.
'The fact that he didn't outright ignore me or tell me to get out is a good sign. Well, a better-than-nothing sign.' Ken sighed inwardly in relief.
"Is that all?" Koutarou asked, not taking his gaze away from his documents.
"Ah. Yes, Father. That is all."
"Then you can go. I'm busy, as you can see." Ken's father gestured towards the door, urging Ken to leave.
"Yes." Ken stood up, preparing to leave when he remembered something. "Oh, yes. I almost forgot. Father, I need some money."
"How much," Koutarou asked indifferently, to the point where it didn't even sound like a question at all.
"I mean... How much are you willing to give?"
Koutarou turned away from what he was doing and looked Ken in the eye.
"How much do you want," The man asked once again. His tone was as if asking someone how much a piece of candy cost.
"Eh... I don't know... Ten million dollars...?" Ken said with a bit of hesitation. 'I mean, even he won't just shell out that much money, right?'
"Done." After saying that, Koutarou returned his attention to his papers, with no intention of looking up again.
"Wait. Really?" Ken was a bit frazzled. He and Kyouka always joked in exasperation about how wealthy they were, but he didn't know that they were that wealthy. To the extent that ten million dollars were just given to him instantly after he asked.
He didn't even intend to ask for that much money in the first place, he just wanted to see his father's face when he asked for such an astronomical sum.
Ken had even thought of various excuses for why he needed the money before coming here. And yet his father agreed to an even bigger amount than he intended to ask for immediately.
'Why do I feel like I lost somehow...?'
"It'll be wired to your account later," Koutarou added. It was beneath his father to lie about these kinds of things, so Ken could be sure that he was going to be getting a lot of money soon. "Now, leave."
"Yes." After Ken heard his father's urging, he turned around.
'Damn. Father may not be the best parent... But daddy sure knows how to shell out pocket money!' Ken praised his father in his heart.
Just as he was about to open the door, he turned around and bowed deeply to his father. "Father, thank you for everything, and... goodbye."
After giving saying his thanks and farewells, Ken left his father's study in high spirits.
After Ken left his father's study. Kagami Koutarou put down the documents he was holding and looked up. He stared at the door his son just left through.
The man just sat there gazing at it for a while.
Nobody but him knew what thoughts lay behind his eyes.
"Ugh..."
'Damn, I'm so fucking full...' Ken groaned as he rubbed his bloated belly.
After his conversation with his father, Ken asked Hanzo to reserve a nice restaurant and sent the location to the doctors and hospital staff whom he promised to have dinner with.
As working adults, they naturally couldn't just leave work all of a sudden, and Ken naturally wouldn't ask that of them. He decided to roam around the mansion with his dogs while reminiscing and chatting with the servants he hadn't seen in a while. A lot of these servants actually came to visit him from time to time, so it wasn't like they had too much to catch up on though.
Once the promised time drew close, Ken made his way over to the restaurant in a car worthy of his stature, at Hanzo's insistence. On the trip there, he decided to catch up on the many web novel chapters he didn't get to read because of his coma. The forebears had warned of not reading while in a moving vehicle; however, Ken shoved their warning out the window.
This ended up giving him some motion sickness, just as it was foretold by his predecessors.
'It's worth it though. I read so much.' Ken was quite satisfied with the amount he read. The motion sickness would go away eventually, anyway.
Once he arrived at the venue, he left the urn with his dogs' ashes in the car, since it didn't seem appropriate to bring them to a place of eating. Even though he really didn't want to part with them. He went inside and waited.
Around seven o'clock, everybody had arrived, and the dinner began.
Ken tried his best to entertain them as he was the host. Everybody had quite a good time, and nobody wasn't in high spirits. Every single one of them was happy that the frail and bedridden young man they all knew was currently hosting them to a dinner party so energetically.
If there's anything you need, just tell me! I'm rich right now, so I can buy just about anything! I owe everyone a lot so it's the least I can do! He boasted to them — a boast that everybody just laughed off.
The dinner went on as if his attempt at repaying them never happened, and people started shoving food on his plate, saying that he needed to build up some muscle.
Which is why his stomach felt like exploding right now.
The dinner continued till 9:30 pm. Most people in attendance had jobs so they had to end the little gathering before it got too late.
As they were leaving the restaurant, Ken told the staff to tell him if they needed anything again, as he really did feel a debt of gratitude to them.
To which they replied that it was just their job, and they required no additional compensation from him. His thanks alone were enough.
Dr. Murphy even said that he would cry if he continued acting so distant.
Ken didn't want to make them think that he was disrespecting them, so he gave up. Although he told them that the offer still stood, he knew these people really wouldn't ask for anything else. He just knew it.
In any case, Ken returned to the hospital and made his way to his room. This was the place he was most comfortable in, and it was already agreed upon that he had to stay here for a while in case his illness relapsed or something.
"Hah~, I'm so full~!" Ken sat down on a sofa and opened his laptop. He intended to make use of his time well. And by "using his time well", he naturally meant "using his time to binge-watch some anime and binge-read some stuff".
Ken shifted around, trying to find the most comfortable position before he put his earphones on.
He had no intention of sleeping.
Last Edited: July 10, 2023