A/n: Thank you, everyone, for reading my fanfiction!

Arima Kousei POV:

I have changed. I know that I was too different from the boy I was long ago. I can't even recognize myself anymore. Accepting to be a member of the Ashworth Group changed me. 

I know that Jupiter slowly made me who I am today. 

Did I kill my old self ever since I began using marijuana? The old innocent Arima Kousei is gone, now but what killed me more was my dad's confession. I can't believe that he just used mom to give birth to me! I hate it that he's married to a woman who's a member of a huge syndicate, too. If my grandfather had rejected my uncle because he's a son of his mother who was a member of a gangster, then that means that they don't know that Phoebe Yang is a member of a huge syndicate. I should do something about it, right?

"Sir, Mrs. Hiroko Seto is waiting for you in the Guest Room," said one of my American servants while I was drinking in my own theater room with August. He's a Black American and he's one of my favorite servants. "What do I tell her, sir?"

"Shouldn't you call him 'young master' now?" August screamed. "This boy is boss's heir to his throne!"

"Forgive me, ma'am," he apologized. "I won't repeat it."

"Tell her to go here if she wants to talk to me," I told him as I put my glass down on a table next to my black couch. "She owes me her freedom."

"Yes, sir." He immediately closed the door afterward.

I took a deep breath. "That man has a name and I like him as a bodyguard. He's John Grahams."

"Forgive me, young master," she said to me with a smile perked in her lips. "Hiroko will be very surprised when she sees what you are, now. You don't very much look like the boy we chained inside the container van long ago."

"That boy's gone," I told her. "He's locked up deep inside me and he sometimes screams for help but I don't lend a hand as I'm afraid to free him."

She placed her hands down my shoulders. "Don't just lock him up, Kousei. You don't deserve to free that side of you. Destroy it. Make it vanish."

I closed my eyes. "It's not that easy. I was afraid I was just suppressing him."

"Soon, you'll find out how easy to disregard your old self," she said to me as she takes her bag and leaves. "I had disregarded my past and chose to forget it."

...

Moments later, Seto Hiroko entered my room. She was wearing a pink blouse and blue long pants with a ribbon belt and her black hair's long, too. It looked like it wasn't just me who changed after six years. "You're still sitting on that couch. Why don't you stand up and talk to me? I want to talk to you. It's been so long that I haven't seen you!"

I pocketed my cigarette and stood up to face her. "It's good to know you're safe and sound, now. They all did free you when I accepted to be his heir, Seto Hiroko- san."

"What happened, Kousei?" she asked me. "What kind of offer did that man give you to accept it? He's cruel! What did he do to you?"

"It was dad who was truthfully cruel to me. Uncle Kuroshi was cruel in my own opinion for three years. I always wanted to escape until I found out the truth," I told her. "Dad used my mother so he can have me since his real wife can't have a child!"

Seto Hiroko was taken aback by what I said. It looked, as if, she didn't know about it, too. "That can't be true! Did he really say that?"

"He did say it to me!" I shouted. "I chose to be an Ashworth. No one forced me."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know," Seto Hiroko told me. "Kousei, I still want to know why you're angry. Your dad may have had reasons for it."

"Reasons? What reasons?" I screamed. "He obviously chose to impregnate my mother, then after she gave birth to me, he left my mother to die! I look too much like him. I understand now why my mother loved hurting me when I was a child! Whenever she sees me, she kept seeing the man that broke her heart! Tell me if he has good reasons to leave me out alone after my mother passed away? You weren't even near me when I needed everyone!"

She tried to touch me as I was brought to tears. 

Memories of the days I was all alone flooded in my consciousness. 

I didn't stop her, though, when she took me around her arms and hugged me. "I'll talk to your dad about this. I can totally see that you need me. to act as your mother-figure"

"Could you be my ward again? I need someone who can take care of me," I asked her. "You're right after all. I need someone who can look after me."

Her eyes glimmered. "Of course. You're my best friend's son. My duty is to protect you."

"You'll be paid so you can make a living for Koharu," I told her as she dries my tears. "Just promise me that you won't hinder me in anything I choose to do. I'm not a child anymore."

"Don't do anything bad, Kousei. That's not you," she cried out. "I'll talk to your uncle about it."

I held her arms tight. "I agreed to be his heir. If you tell him that I won't do anything he asks me to do, he'll strip me from the freedom I get now. He's still got me into a huge leash."

She just stared at me in shock. "Be careful, Kousei. No matter what, don't do anything that would put you in danger!"

"I will and I promise that I'll be safe," I promised her. "I do this for us, Hiroko- san."

She was so out of breath that it was at that time that I realized that she's sick. I held her tight around me while she was gasping for air.

"Helena!" I called one of my servants inside my room. "Fetch me a glass of water!"

She immediately poured water on one of my water goblets and gave it to me. I helped Seto Hiroko sit on my couch. I gave her water on her lips slowly and sat beside her. I never had a mother-figure ever since my biological mother passed away. I was alone. I may have a grudge over her for leaving me alone when I had lost my ability to play the piano but she came back. I'm still grateful for what she did for me as she took care of me when I needed someone to shower me with care and love.

"Kousei, why do you stay in this prison?" she asked me. "That man had forced you to stay in the prison he placed you in."

"I'm fine with it. I was able to adapt to his world," I answered her. "You can call it a prison but it's my world, now, too. You'd need to learn how to move around it."

"What about Kaori?" she asked me. "How did she react?"

"She understood why I stayed here. I hope you do, too," I told her. "Watari Ryota seemed to have a hard time accepting what I am, now, though."

She sighed. "I got to leave, Kousei. I'll come back here tomorrow. Remember though, you should pay me right. I'll act like a nanny, after all."

"How's Koharu?" I asked her as she leaves my suite.

"She's fine," she grinned. "She's not a toddler anymore. You should visit her sometime."

I can't believe that the girl who was always with my piano teacher's a kid now. "How old is she, now?"

She chuckled. "She's eleven years old already."

"Thank you for the visit," I told her. "Tomorrow, I'll be very happy to meet you again as you begin working here as my personal nanny."

"Be ready by how I take care of you," she spoke to me suddenly.

I giggled. "Of course, Mom."

Seto Hiroko's cheeks reddened. 

I know that she was surprised by how I called her but she deserves it anyway.

...

A/n: I hope you like this fanfiction! Thank you!