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Asta was looking around the base nervously. His stomach was twisting since the morning and he had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, but nothing of the sort happened yet. Magna and Luck were arguing and didn't try to prank him again, as it ended up badly for them before; Vanessa was laying on the couch and drinking wine, Gauche was holed up in his room with Gray, Gordon was muttering something in the corner as always; Charmy was cooking up lunch, as the time was nearing, and Noelle was looking at him weirdly. Summarizing, nothing new was going on. Captain Yami went to some conference with Finral, so he didn't need to worry that he didn't replace the paper. Ideale went with them, so he didn't have to worry about his jokes too.
"What are you doing, Shrimp?" asked Noelle, holding a cup of tea and looking at Asta.
"I just have a bad feeling" he explained, laying his head on the table, irritated.
"In what sense?"
"Well, I feel something twisting up my insides and..."
"I don't need to know the details! I meant that... Ugh" she grabbed her head, not knowing herself how to explain it. "Just ignore it, it's probably nothing" she waved her hand, looking away with a red face.
"But..."
At the same moment someone knocked on the door. Magna paused his fight with Luck and went to open the door, on the other side seeing Yuno, Mimosa and Klaus. Yuno was holding a container with something black in it. Both Mimosa and Klaus looked mildly digusted, but tried to hide it.
"Hi. We're here for Asta" said the yellow-eyed boy.
"Rasta! Your friend is here!"
"Yuno? Come in" Asta invited him inside. "What are you doing here?" he wondered as the members of Golden Dawn were standing in the middle of the room.
"I brought you soup" Yuno smiled, giving the container to the boy, who instantly paled.
"Yes... Haha... Thanks..." he said unconvincigly, nervously laughing and getting more pale. "You made it yourself?"
"Yeah" he said with pride in his voice. Lunette and Vermillion sent pitying looks his way. "Will you eat it now?" he asked with unusual entusiasm.
"Uhh... You know, I think I'm gonna save it for later..." seeing the growing sad expression on his foster brother's face, he sighed with defeat and while praying for his stomach, he went for a spoon, after which he sat down and opened the container.
He cringed, seeing that the black goo was bubbling. When he saw something in it move, he shuddered. He took some of the goo on the spoon and put it in his mouth. His tongue felt like it was on fire, he himself didn't know if it was because it was so spicy, or so disgusting. He wanted to vomit, but he resisted the urge and swallowed the thing that Yuno called soup. He smiled forcibly at the black-haired boy, who was looking at him expectantly. He braced himself and quicky ate the rest of the goo from the container.
"See, I told you it's good" Yuno said to his companions, after which he hugged Asta, waved his hand and left the base, his comrades in tow, sending the boy the last looks of pity and understanding.
"Hey man, everything alright?" Magna inquired, seeing that his junior is as white as a wall.
"Yes" he stood up quickly. "I'm going to my room" he turned around, then took one step and promptly fell on the floor.
"Asta! Are you okay?" Noelle shouted, crouching beside the boy.
***
When Asta woke up the next day, he felt much better. Yet he knew something has changed. He didn't know what, he just knew. He stood up lazily from the bed, in case he had morning sickness from yesterday's "soup". He froze in shock when he heard voices coming from the room next to his, which belonged to Magna. His face went as red as a tomato, and without shame he shouted:
"Magna! Luck! Be quieter! I can hear you! You're not alone here!"
He put his hands on his ears, wanting to cover them. To his enormous surprise, they weren't there. His eyes widened when he began patting his head in search for his ears and he felt two appendages at the top of his head. He sprinted towards the bathroom, looked at himself in the mirror and promptly screamed.
In a few moments the whole bas was gathered in the bathroom. They wanted to yell at him for disturbing the morning, but fell silent when they saw him.
"What..."
"The..."
"Hell?" asked Magna, Gauche and Finral.
Asta had fox ears and a tail poking beneath his long shirt. He was also smaller than normal. On his cheeks were three, long, gray triangles.
Yami snapped out of his shock. "What the fuck happened to you?"
"I don't know! I woke up and just was like... this!" the gray-haired boy waved his hands at himself and everything around.
No one had a chance to say anything, when the girls squealed and threw themselves at Asta, hugging him. He tried to pry himself from their grasp, but when they began to accidentaly choke him, he could only wave his hands, hoping someone would save him.
***
When the rest of the Black Bulls shook out of their stupor, and the girls let go of Asta, they decided to gather in the common room and discuss what happened.
"Can I fight you?" Luck asked excitedly.
"No" Asta answered dryly. He didn't like this situation at all. He hoped this transformation was because of Yuno's soup, who he wanted to have a little talk with.
"Maybe we should try to tear the ears and tail off?" proposed Magna, putting his hands on his hips.
"No!" the girls and Asta protested. Noelle slapped the fire mage on the head and crossed her arms.
"Are you stupid or what? Let's just leave it as it is"
"Also no! I don't wanna be like this forever!" Asta wailed.
"Whatever, just stay away from Marie" said Gauche, coming into the room.
"Shut up brats! Kid, get ready. We're going to your golden boy and the captains" Yami grabbed the gray-haired boy by his shirt and left. "Finral get your ass here!"
"I'm coming!" he panicked, running through the door.
***
"Why did this foreigner call us here?" Nozel crossed his arms, displeased.
"Stop whining. It's the first time he called a meeting, so this must be important" William said calmly.
"I wonder what's this about" Rill chirped happily.
"Hopefully nothing stupid or I'm gonna slice him to pieces" answered Jack.
Julius, who surprisingly got here quite early, was just about to answer, when the doors opened and revealed Yami behind them.
"Yo" he greeted. Some nodded to him, while the others, meaning Nozel and Jack, threw him scornful looks.
"Why have you called us here, Yami?" inquired William.
"Did you bring the brat with you?"
"Yes, Yuno is in the bathroom"
"Great. When he comes, he's gotta disenchant him" he brought his hand forwards, showing them Asta.
Rill squealed and pounced on him, but Yami's fist stopped him, connecting with his face. William looked shocked at the boy, seeing an image of his old friend in front of his eyes. He pursed his lips and waited for Yami to continue.
"What happened to him?" Nozel could barely get the words out of him, too shocked.
"William's brat gave him some soup yesterday and these are the effects" he pointed at the boy. The captain of Golden Dawn and Nozel let out their breaths.
"Have you tried bringing him to a medic?" William had sweat dripping down his face, feeling Yami's deadly gaze on him.
"And how would he help?"
***
After the meeting, Yami brought Asta to Owen, in the company of Rill, who couldn't (didn't want to) leave his friend. Yuno also went with them to say what he added to the soup. The raven sent Rill nasty looks. He also wanted to hug his brother, but when he tried it before he got a fist in the stomach and almost threw up his lunch.
"Yo" Yami said, going into the office without knocking.
"Hello Yami, Asta, Rill and... Yuno?" The yellow-eyed boy nodded in confirmation. "What brings you to me..." He paused when he saw Asta's new additions. "Alright... What happened?"
"Yuno gave me some feral soup and I just woke up like this!"
"Cute!" added Rill, after which he got an elbow to his side from Asta.
Yami laughed, and Yuno smiled with satisfaction.
"What did you add in that soup?"
"Well..."
Yuno listed out all of the ingredients, all of which Asta knew only half, and honestly he didn't know how his brother didn't break his tongue on some of the names.
"Hmm... honestly, all of the things you listed could only give him some sickness. I have no idea how you turned into a half-fox. It may have some connection to your lack of magic, but I doubt it. I have to do some research, as I have a small theory. Asta stay, the rest of you leave."
Owen shooed them out of the office and said to Yami to come back later. Of course, Yami had no intention of coming back, which Owen knew.
***
After the examination, Asta went to town, because he knew that before Yami sends Finral to get him it's gonna be a long time, and Yuno and Rill went back to their places so he has nothing better to do. He closed his eyes and tilted his head upwards, on which he had a hood so that no one looks at him weirdly. He hid the tail beneath his clothes, so he had to be careful not to move it. Suddenly he colided with something solid and he would've flew backwards if not for the hand holding him by his waist. He looked up adn saw his boyfriend's, Leopold's, face.
"Leo?" he didn't expect to see him today.
"Asta? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be on a mission" Leo frowned. He proposed earlier to spend this day together, but Asta rejected because he was actually going to be on a mission.
"Hi. And it's a long story" he said tiredly, rubbing his neck.
"What happened? And where were you?"
"At Dr. Owen's..."
"Are you ill?"
"What? No"
"Then what is it?" he put his hands on the gray-haired boy's shoulders and frowned even deeper. "You seem smaller"
"Really? I didn't notice" Asta said sarcastically. "Come. We're gonna talk where there's no people" he said more calmly. He grabbed Leo's hand and dragged him to a tavern, where they quickly rented a room. They sat on the bed, and Asta took his hood off.
Leo fell silent and a blush rose on his face.
"What... What happened to you?" he asked after a while, not moving his eyes away from his boyfriend.
"Yuno gave me some soup and I woke up with this" he grumbled, putting his head in his hands.
"Hey... Don't worry. I'm sure everything will return to normal soon." he tried to cheer him up. He hugged him and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "No matter how you look, I love you all the same" he said with conviction, bringing their foreheads together.
"I love you too" he said happily.
Leo kissed Asta and brought a hand to his cheek, trying to deepen the kiss. After parting he sent the Black Bulls member a cheeky smile, to which he blushed profusely and brought him down on the bed.
***
After Leopold brought Asta back to the base, he went to sleep, exhausted after today's events. He didn't know that the next few days were gonna be even worse. After all, nothing seemed to forewarn the upcoming events... or did it?
***
In his office, Dr. Owen sat at his desk, analyzing the results of Asta's examination. His theories were correct. On one hand that was good, but on the other... He frowned and looked up at the ceiling.
"Poor child... As if it wasn't bad enough that he was born without magic, life decided to mess with him even more" he sighed, tired. "Who should I inform first?" he asked himself. "Julius? No... He would tire the child to death before he even knew what was going on. Yami? Hm... Yes. I'll tell him first, then he can take it from here. It's not for my nerves." he laughed nervously.
***
The next day Yami and Asta were going to the doctor's office. The boy still had his appendages and had to hide them under a hood and cloak. Coming into the office, the captain immediately saw the serious expression on the doctor's face.
"Sit down" he pointed at the chairs near the desk. When they did, he continued. "Asta, unfortunately I can't tell you much for now, because your condition has ties to someone I will consult later. You must know that this wasn't caused by Yuno's soup."
"Then what caused it?"
"Your origin"
"What?" Asta looked at Yami, and he shrugged.
"One of your parents or grandparents was half-kitsune, so the gene has awakened in you" he said half the truth. He couldn't tell him more, even though he wanted to.
"So that means I will have this forever?" Asta asked, displeased.
"From what I know, you can hide them, but I don't know how. You have to figure this out yourself."
"Alright. I'll do it to quickly get back on the mission!" he shouted excitedly, pointing his fist upwards. Owen chuckled quietly.
"Now, Asta, could you step out for a moment? Go take a walk, I have to talk to Yami. When you come back, I'll do another examination and then you can go home"
"Okay!" he stood up and went to the door. He was about to leave, when a voice stopped him.
"Oh, and one more thing! If you see the emperor or someone else, don't tell them anything, okay? And don't take off your hood" he warned him. Julius and the others probably thought that the spell vanished, so as long as he doesnt tell them anything, everything will be alright. Unfortunately for him, Asta listened to him with one ear, and let it out with the other.
"Sure!" he said and then left.
Silence has fallen.
"So, what did you want from me? Yami asked.
***
At the same time Asta was wandering about in the garden beside the building. He didn't have anything to do, so he sat down on a bench and watched the garden. He was unusually quiet, because he was thinking about the doctor's words. Is it possible that with this he will be able to find his family? His tail stirred, but it calmed down when another question popped into his head. Would they even want to meet him? He wasn't abandoned without a reason. Would they accept his lack of magic?"
He snapped out of his thoughts when a shadow loomed over him. He looked up and saw the captain of the Golden Dawn.
"Hello, Asta. How are you?"
"Good morning. Um... I'm fine, I think."
"Can I join you?" he pointed at the bench.
"Sure" he nodded. He tried to act casually.
"Have you figured out how to get rid of your... additions? Did they vanish?"
"Ah, yes and no. The doctor said it has something to do with my genes or something." he scratched his neck. He didn't see how William suddenly tensed up.
The man was in shock. He couldn't get a word out. He felt a sudden urge to hug the boy. He inhaled air and exhaled it before he could answer. Fortunately the teen didn't notice.
"Alright. Excuse me, I have to go now. Goodbye" he said, then stood up and left, but this time his walk was stiff and heavy. He had to get to Owen as quickly as possible, and then to Julius. He had to be absolutely sure, he had to get an answer to the question that haunted him since he saw the tail and ears on Asta.
***
After two hours Asta returned to the office. He wanted to go there earlier, but when he got there Yami told him to go walk a bit more. He could swear that he felt Yuno's captain's presence in the room, but when he saw his captain's face, he decided not to pry. He just left. He wandered around the garden, after which he returned to the office, in which there was only Owen who quickly examined him and let him go back to the base. When he couldn't find the captain, he went to the city's outskirts and changed into the black form, returning to the base.
The members of the Black Bulls, especially girls, took the news with enthusiasm. Asta was tired, so he quickly went to bed.
The next day he tried to make his tail and ears disappear, which after a few hours he finally did. He decided to train this ability for a while longer, and before he noticed it was already evening. Noelle barged into his room with the intention of dragging him to dinner after he skipped lunch. It wasn't needed, as Asta was as hungry as a wolf.
"Come, Shrimp. You should take better care of yourself... Not that I actually care" she scoffed, turning away.
"Sorry" he smiled and rubbed his neck. He made his ears and tail disappear, so the markings on his cheeks also vanished.
"Whatever"
"Hey kid, I hope you learned to hide them, else I'll kill you" Yami warned from behind a newspaper.
"Of course captain!" Asta chirped, not worrying about the threats.
He sat down beside Noelle and began to eat. After fifteen minutes, an unexpected guest arrived at the base.
Yami glanced at Asta coming up to the table and threatened him, then went back to reading his newspaper. He scoffed under his nose, thinking back to his conversation with Owen. He was irritated that he had to deal with this whole mess that those two will undoubtedly cause.
Earlier...
"You will have to deal with Nozel and Julius... And with William" Owen said.
"The fuck? I don't have the nerves to deal with them. They'll come to you to confirm my words anyway."
"You knew?" Owen crossed his arms.
"Of course. There's only one family with kitsune genes in this kingdom and even I know about it. You know I knew Fokushi before she vanished."
"Well... From my calculations I can see that she had to be pregnant when she escaped. That was before Noelle's birth, so I think that's why she ran, but why did she leave him at an orphanage? I have no idea"
"Maybe something happened to her? She was strong, but reckless, what her son clearly inherited... Are you 100 percent sure this is true? Did you do a DNA test?"
Owen nodded his head. "I have no doubts that it is true. I worry about Nozel's reaction"
"Yeah, we don't know what he might think about this"
"Okay, bring Asta here. I have to prepare to meet the other two"
Unexpectedly William barged into the office and came up to Owen and asked the question the other feared, but knew was unavoidable.
"Is Asta Fokushi's son?"
They had to explain everything to him, and seeing that William had a tendency to share everything with Julius, it's obvious how this ended.
***
Yami came back to reality when Julius arrived at the base with a big grin on his face. Everyone, except Yami, looked at the emperor with confusion. After all, what would the emperor want from them that he decided to come here himself? Unfortunately, only their captain knew the reason.
When they shook out of the initial shock, some of them bowed like you're supposed to, while the others just went back to their previous activities.
"What's the emperor doing here?" Asta was curious and excited.
"I came here for you, Asta-kun!" Julius chirped happily, hugging the boy, confusing him greatly.
"Huh?"
"Oi, leave him alone! He doesn't know about anything yet" Yami called out, grasping Asta by his hood and snatched him from Julius' hold.
"What do I not know about?" he asked, but was ignored.
"So I'll tell him, I see no problem here! Give him back, I want to enjoy him some more" the emperor tried to grab the boy.
"No! First you have to tell him before you try to cuddle him, or whatever you want to do" Yami pushed Asta away with one hand, and put the other one on Julius' head, stopping him.
"Tell me about what?" Asta pried once more, but sighed when he saw that he was once again ignored. He looked at his team for help, but only saw their amused faces.
***
An hour later:
When Yami and Julius went to talk in private, or rather Yami dragged Novachrono somewhere, Asta decided to go train.
His mind was muddled by a myriad of questions about this whole situation, but he couldn't find an answer to them. He was doing pushups on a small field, when a series of magical bullets flew his way. He quickly got up on his feet, unsheathed his sword and blocked most of the attack.
"Who's there?!" he shouted, getting into position.
From behind the bushes came a few mages with grimoire's floating beside. From experience Asta could tell they were paid assassins. He wanted to say something, but didn't have the chance to, because he didn't feel the presence behind him fast enough. He could see a flash of steel that was getting closer to his neck. He had a feeling like time stopped, when he observed the approaching blade, not being able to move. As the blade was just about to slash his flesh, the attacker was caught in a time spell. He looked to his side and saw Julius. His legs gave out and he fell backwards when his heart began beating rapidly.
"Are you alright?" Julius ran up to him and checked him thoroughly.
"No... At least I think so"
Of course, since he became a knight he had a few takes on his life, and yet he couldn't get used to it. Everytime it was a shock, but this time was the first time someone did it not because he was a knight, but because he was the sole target. He knew this didn't make sense to anyone, but for him it did.
"That's good..." the emperor sighed with relief, then looked at him with a serious expression. "I'll take them for interrogation, and you return to the headquarters. You will probably have to testify... Goodbye!" he quickly hugged the boy and vanished.
"Good... bye?" Asta said, confused, knowing no one will hear him.
Despite the Julius' instructions, he stayed and trained more to get rid of the tension. He still had some energy to burn. After an hour, he decided to finally return home, because after the ttack he couldn't concentrate properly. He also hoped he would finally know what the emperor meant to say and why his captain advised not to talk to him.
***
Meanwhile Julius and Marx finished interrogating the assassins. The bluette glanced at the emperor and moved away when he felt the fury emanating from him. He wanted to stop him when he left the room, but he didn't for his own safety. Besides, the person that was the object of Novachrono's fury deserved what was coming for them. The oldest Silva didn't even know what was coming.
Julius couldn't understand why Nozel would send assassins after the boy tht was probably his son. His mind couldn't comprehend it. Since he became a knight, he saw many things, but this was going too far. He planned to go to him, make a scene and theaten him with court. He understood that Silva couldn't accept Asta as his son and he could accept that, as it meant that he would have his nephew all to himself. But what he did was too much and he couldn't leave it without consequences.
He barged into the Silva Estate. No one stopped him, as everyone knew who he was, and seeing his mood no one wanted to get in his way. He went straight to Nozel's office. He came in, not bothering to knock and shut the door loudly. The white-haired man looked up from his papers surprised and irritated. When he saw who it was, he stood up and bowed.
"Emperor, what ha..." he began, but Novachrono stopped him, banging his fist on the desk.
"How could you? I understand you may not want him, but for god's sake, it's your son and my nephew! You must know I won't let it go that easy!"
"What are you talking about?" Nozel was confused and disturbed.
"Oh, don't pretend you don't know" he rolled his eyes. "I'm talking about how you hired assassins to kill Asta" he growled seriously.
"What? Someone... tried to kill him? Is he alright? But wait, where did you get the idea that it was me?"
"At the interrogation they said it was "The oldest Silva"
"But.. Wait a moment... No..." he muttered under his breath, not believing his own thoughts. But the facts were clear. "He wouldn't do it..."
"Who?" Julius was confused.
"My father"
"Hmm... It would make more sense if it was him, but why would he do that? He doesn't know about anything" Julius said sceptically.
"I informed him yesterday. I bet he wanted to save Silva's reputation... If people knew there was someone without magic in our family, we would lose all our reputation and impact."
"Where is he?" the emperor was mad.
"In his chambers... One more thing" he said quickly, when the other man turned around. "If you plan to arrest him, could you conceal the reason?" Novachrono sighed.
"Tell me honestly... Do you accept Asta as your son?" he asked, looking him straight in the eyes.
"No"
"I understand" he nodded. "I won't ask the reason, but I hope you won't regret your decision" said the blond, then left the room.
He signed a few knights to come with him to Nozel's father's chambers. The arrest went by with no major problems. The arrested was putting up a fight, but at least no one tried to intervene. Nozel only averted his eyes when his father was taken away, and Julius' eart hurt from the Silva's shouts and threats. The rest was just formalities. Marx checked his memories, which only confirmed his case. At the and of the day Julius went back home, exhausted.
***
Asta tried to calm down his friends, whom he forgot to inform about yesterday's attempt at his life. No need to add that the Black Bulls were furious when they found out from the emperor's messenger, that the person behind this was captured.
"Calm down brats!" Yami shouted, banging his fist on the wall.
Everyone slowly calmed. They still were mad, but stopped making a ruckus.
"Now..." Yami started, but was interrupted by Leopold running into the base.
"Asta! Are you okay?! I heard that you were attacked" he began checking the aformentioned boy.
"I'm fine" he said with a smile.
"Why didn't you say anything?!" Leo was extremely concerned.
"We asked him the same thing" The Bulls agreed.
"I was trying to say something" Yami growled, irritated, dragging Leo and Asta away from each other. "And you stop trying to get into his pants instantly after getting here" he said to Leo, who blushed profusely.
"I didn't do that!" he protested.
"Yeah, sure." Yami scoffed. "Since we got everything sorted out, you have..."
And he was interrupted again. This time by Julius, who barged into the base with a huge teddy bear.
"Hello, Asta-kun!" he greeted happily.
Everyone looked at him weirdly, and Leo frowned. He pointed at the emperor, silently asking Asta what was going on, and the boy only shrugged as an answer.
"I everything alright?" he gave Asta the bear.
"Yes?" he said uncertainly.
"I'm glad!"
"Maybe tell him already, because he doesn't know what you're talking about" Yami grumbled, smoking a cigarette.
"About what?"
"Come, let's talk outside" he left, and Asta went with him. The Bulls and Leo, curious, put their ears up to the door.
The emperor and the boy sat down at a bench nearby. Julius had a serious face and looked down at Asta.
"I know what I will say will shock you, but I hope you won't be mad. You see, seventeen years ago, my sister disappeared. No one knew what happened to her, she just vanished one day. We tried to search for her, but to no avail." he sighed sadly.
"But what does it have to do with me?"
"It's about you tail and ears. The Novachrono Family is the only one in the Clover Kingdom that has the kitsune gene, that shows up once in a few generations, but it sometimes happened from one generation to the next. No one actually knows who will inherit the gene... at first they were only speculations, but dr. Owen's examinations show clearly that you are my sister's son... I don't know why she left you at an orphanage, but..." he paused, seeing that the boy wasn't listening to him right now.
Asta looked into the distance, mulling over the information. His mind couldn't comprehent that he was connected to a noble family, as it clashed with his goal... He also felt like a simple countryboy and was proud of it. He couldn't imagine being anyone else. He sat there for ten minutes before he accepted it... Somewhat. Because even though he has noble blood, he was raised as a simple countryboy and he planned to become the Magic Emperor as one! But then, questions began to flood his mind.
"And who's my father? Do you know who it is?"
"Unfortunately I am not able to tell you that" because I promised Nozel, he added in his mind. He couldn't lie, because Asta would instantly feel it, but he couldn't tell the truth either, because he didn't want his nephew to suffer or hate Nozel, he didn't like him enough already. Respected, but not liked. "And call me uncle!" he added cheerfully.
"Why are you telling me this?" he rejected the offer. He would feel weird if he called the person he admired for years "uncle".
"Well... I won't force you to accept the Novachrono surname, because I feel you wouldn't want to do that?
"No"
"So, I just want us to be a family. I know I won't replace your parents, but I'm gonna be the best uncle in the world" he stated.
***
Three months passed since Julius' declaration. At first it was awkward, but after some time they became closer. Julius sometimes took Asta on his expeditions to find new magic, and Asta forced him to work, for which Marx was eternally grateful for. Novachrono met Leopold as Asta's official boyfriend, and it was no surprise the meeting wasn't pleasant, especially since he barged into the bedroom, seeing them without shirts and in a suggestive postition. After a lot of threats coming from the emperor, he finally accepted it, although reluctantly. It wasn't about the fact that he had a boyfriend, but that he didn't want Asta to be hurt. Of course, he still hadn't said to him who was his father, and he was never planning to. Nozel himself was stayin as far away from Asta as he could. Even though it was hard for him to abandon his own child, he knew he was leaving him in good hands. It wasn't possible for him to convince Asta to learn how to live in the noble world, and the boy himself couldn't abandon his life behind. He was happy with just looking at him from the sidelines, and he hoped it would stay this way.