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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 7 years

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The Misadventures of Prince Kim - chapter 24

(aka the royalty AU story)

Be the change you want to see in the world, right? Well I wanna see more aro ace characters. So here, have a CANON ARO ACE CHARACTER THIS CHAPTER :D

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23] [AO3]

The weather was warm enough for Kim to sit outside at the fountain, doing his homework on the ground with the calming sound of water to focus his mind. Max was busy tutoring someone else at the moment so Kim was on his own. It felt kind of strange doing his homework without Max there to help if he needed it, even though he could usually do it by himself these days. Perhaps he was just getting too used to Max’s company. In any case, it felt somewhat harder to concentrate without Max, though he tried his best.

“Hello, Kim.”

He looked up to see Marchesa Lila walking towards him, a bright orange parasol in hand to protect her from the sun.

“Oh, hey Lila,” he muttered, then went back to working on his homework.

“I was just out here for a walk,” she said, striding right up to him and looking down at him with those enticing green eyes of hers. “I didn’t realize you would be here too, what a coincidence! This really is a lovely fountain, though. What a beautiful, romantic setting.”

Kim was very tempted to ask why she was very clearly hitting on him when he thought she was interested in Adrien instead, but he stopped himself. Lila always hit on everyone, it probably didn’t mean anything. He gave her a quick smile then tried to get back to his homework again.

“A day like this is too good for wasting on work,” she simpered, putting the tip of her parasol down on the sheet of paper and dragging it aside. “Would you like to join me on my walk?”

“Um, no thanks. I have to get this homework done, then I’ve got a football match, and later I was gonna go skating with Alix…”

Lila’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “So… you’re not afraid of her snake?”

“What? Pffff, no way, I’m not scared of snakes. Her snake totally loves me. We’re besties.”

“I’m not scared of snakes either.” Lila flipped her long hair over her shoulder. “My country has venomous cobras too, I’ve tamed them with my bare hands. And I like skating too, you know, I’m a real expert at it. Unfortunately I can’t show you because I recently hurt my foot in a dangerous stunt so my doctor said not to, so I left my rollerskates back in Rossi. Have you been there? You should visit, it’s iconic. The rich, powerful centre of the trade world.”

What? No, none of that could be right, surely. Kim remembered Max teaching him about half the things she just mentioned and… no, there was no way. If she was lying just to get his attention, well, she must have thought he knew nothing about global affairs whatsoever.

“Italia doesn’t have cobras,” he said. “Max said the only venomous snakes in Italia are vipers. And rollerskates are patented in Kubdel, which doesn’t trade with Italia so if you even have skates they must be illegal or directly from when you’ve visited, both of which are hard for a marquise. And Rossi only trades with the Italian mainland and doesn’t have much political power, though I guess it’s kinda wealthy compared to surrounding countries…”

He was impressed at himself by how easily he could recall these facts. Max really must have done a great job at tutoring, that was for sure.

Lila, on the other hand, looked as far from impressed as possible.

“Are you trying to make me look bad or something? I was just trying to be friendly!”

“Huh? No, nothing like that, I was just confused why you were lying…”

“I wasn’t lying!” she huffed, stomping her foot. “How dare you accuse me of being a liar? Because I’m not!”

“Then I guess you were just mistaken or something?”

“No, I know what I’m talking about! I’m much smarter than you, and–”

She stopped and took a deep breath, cooling her temper a little.

“Alright, fine, I might have been exaggerating a bit. I just wanted to have a conversation with you, that was all. I didn’t realize you were just as much of a swot as that Max guy.”

“Max is way smarter than me,” Kim said. “But uh… I’m guessing all the other stuff you’ve told everyone about Rossi this week isn’t true either, is it?”

“It’s kind of true!”

That was probably a lie too. “Lila, I won’t tell anyone you lied. I show off all the time too, it’s fine. But maybe tone it down a bit? If you keep lying then everyone else will realize too, and I don’t think they’d mind much either but someone like Chloé might, and she won’t be happy about that, especially since you’re not technically royalty… So if you want to make friends then probably stop making stuff up, it’ll be easier. I’ll be your friend if you want.”

“Thank you, Kim. But I don’t think I’m interested in being friends with someone who thinks of me as a liar and is going to be judging everything I say. I’ll keep your advice in mind, though. Have fun with your… homework.”

She whirled round and marched off.

Was she upset with him? Was she really going to stop lying? It hurt a little that she had assumed he would be so easy to lie to, and that she had been surprised that he wasn’t just some airhead who didn’t know anything. Was that really how people saw him?

It was probably how they saw him compared with Max, anyway. Anyone was an airhead in comparison with Max. Kim would just have to work harder to show everyone that there was more to him than sportiness and challenges, that was all.

As for Lila, he really had wanted to make friends with her – he knew perfectly well what it was like to want to show off in front of new people to make sure they liked you. But outright lying was something else entirely! He didn’t want a friendship based on lies. And if she didn’t want a friendship based on truth, then it probably wasn’t ever going to happen.

Poor girl… hopefully she would find someone who liked her for who she actually was, and she wouldn’t feel the need to lie to them. Everyone deserved someone to be their true self with.

The summer gala was quickly drawing nearer, and the end of the school year with it. It was going to be an informal, optional event, held in the large open square.

“I’m not going to this one either,” Alix said to Kim and Max after the lesson where they had been told the details about it. “If everyone’s at the gala then there’ll be no one around to tell me off or give me detention for doing all the stuff I’ve always wanted to do at this school.”

“What kind of stuff?” Max asked, looking rather sternly at her. “It’s not illegal, is it?”

“Nah, just stuff like skating down the stair railings and climbing those huge trees near the perimeter.”

“You will break your neck and die.”

“Jeez Max, who replaced you with Jalil? I’ll be fine! It’ll be way more fun than some stupid social event, you know I hate stuff like that. Anyway, if you guys are worried I’ll die then you are free to join me and supervise. As long as you don’t tell the teachers or anything.”

“I’m going to the gala, but Kim can keep you company,” Max said, giving Kim a pointed look.

“Fine. If he can keep up with me, that is.”

“Of course I can keep up!” Kim said. “We should have a race – who can climb the tree the quickest. Loser has to jump from like 20 metres up.”

“Let’s reduce that to 2 metres,” Max said hastily. “Anyway Kim, I need to talk to you about something, that thing to do with that homework thing, come on…”

Without waiting, Max grabbed Kim’s arm and pulled him away.

“What homework thing?” Kim asked once they had stopped.

“That was just an excuse to get you away, I need to say something without Alix being here. Listen – it’s been a long time, I’m getting sick of being wingman if you’re not even going to do anything. You and her not going to the gala will be your chance to tell her you like her, so do it, okay?”

Kim nodded. “You’re right, I’ll totally do it this time. I promise. Thanks, Max. You’re the coolest wingman ever. But… you don’t have to go to the gala if you don’t want to, seriously, I don’t mind if you’re there with us, it’ll probably help me not be such an idiot anyway because I’m always more sensible when you’re around–”

“I’d rather not interfere,” Max muttered. “I’ve already made up my mind, I’m going to the gala. You’ll be fine on your own.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. She must be on the verge of noticing you like her – you’ve asked her for a kiss more than once, you played her a romantic ballad on the day of the Cupid Festival, you were rather obvious about the sports bra incident, everyone else in the class has noticed already… Her obliviousness has to have a limit. And of course, if you just tell her outright, you’ll bypass that problem entirely.”

Kim sighed. “Yeah, I know. It’s just… every time I want to say something, I just remember what happened with Chloé! And I know Alix wouldn’t be like that, but I just can’t help thinking about it, and I’m just… I’m…” He lowered his voice. “…I’m afraid of being rejected like that again.”

“That’s fair enough. I suppose Chloé’s rejection affected you more than you realized. But things will be different this time, I’m certain. You can do it.”

“I can do it,” Kim repeated, trying to reassure himself. “Yeah, I can and WILL do it. I’ve totally got this. It’ll be fine. It’ll be awesome! Thanks Max, you’re awesome too!”

He gave Max a hug, then ran off.

The gala wasn’t much different from the other seasonal socials had been, though it was far more relaxed than the formal ones. Max stood alone by the refreshments table, drinking glass after glass of orange juice and wondering if it was possible to get drunk off it. Scientifically it wasn’t, but he could always hope.

He tried so hard not to feel sorry for himself. He was happy for Kim. He really was! Kim was his best friend, and Max would do anything for him. Even if it hurt a lot.

Juleka wandered over to him, dressed in the kind of bright pink that her sweetheart Rose would usually wear.

“Hi Max, you alright?”

Max shrugged. “Alright is certainly the right word. Not great, but alright.”

“Unrequited love hurts, doesn’t it?”

He almost spat out his drink. She was smiling at him in a somewhat sad, pitying sort of way.

“Yes, I can tell,” she said. “I have much better gaydar than Alya does.”

“Juleka, did you ever have crushes on straight girls?” Max asked suddenly, unable to help himself. “Or girls who just weren’t interested in you? How did you deal with it?”

“I had plenty of crushes before Rose, but I was too shy to ever do anything about it so nothing ever happened.”

“How did you have the courage to ask out Rose?”

“She was already my close friend, so I knew that even if she didn’t feel the same way about me, it wouldn’t end up weird between us. Rose is such a sweetie, of course she would understand. And also Kim kind of egged me on.”

Max couldn’t help but grin. “Kim has no subtlety whatsoever.”

“Of course he doesn’t. You’re much better at hiding your feelings. I think I’m the only one who’s noticed so far.”

“You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. But maybe you should do something about it.”

“I can’t – Kim doesn’t love me like that, does he?”

Juleka shook her head. “Looks to me like he’s head over heels for Alix.”

“Maybe I should have done something much earlier. It’s too late now. They’re hanging out right at this moment. Probably already sweethearts by now.”

“I doubt it very much.”

“Really? Why?”

“Well, considering that Alix hasn’t even noticed yet that Kim likes her despite how obvious he’s been, she probably isn’t even remotely interested. And, uh, my gaydar is somewhat going off. At least, she’s not straight. I know that much. Same with Kim.”

Max tried not to put too much faith in that. Gaydar wasn’t exactly scientific, so it had to be taken with a grain of salt. Even if Juleka seemed to know more than she let on. Kim was bi, Max knew that, but Alix? What was she, then?

“Anyway,” Juleka said, “I’ll be off now, gotta go back to my sweet Rose and get her that drink she asked me for. Goodbye Max, and good luck.”

She took a drink off the table and walked away. Lucky her… she and Rose were together, and perfectly happy. Though they didn’t exactly tell people the nature of their relationship, no one was really fooled into thinking it was merely close friendship. Thankfully, it seemed that the royalty class at least all seemed to be alright with it. That gave Max a little hope for the future.

He took another swig of orange juice, feeling the fruity sugars imbuing him with hyper energy. Perhaps he shouldn’t have had so much of it. He could barely stand still, wanting to bounce up and down on his toes. His brain was going much too fast as well, coming up with all sorts of stupid thoughts and scenarios quicker than he could stop them.

Was it selfish to wish that Juleka was right, and that Alix didn’t love Kim back? But then again, he didn’t really wish that. He just wanted Kim to be happy, that was what. The problem was whether or not it would make him happy too.

Most of all he wished he had done something earlier. He should have told Kim the truth a long time ago. It would be too late to do that now, when things were so far along. But the longer he waited, the more painful it felt…

Meanwhile, Kim and Alix (and her snake) spent the whole afternoon being able to mess around without any supervision whatsoever, sliding down the railings, clambering up onto the school roof and trying to catch pigeons, throwing algae from the stream at each other, having rollerskate races, trying to avoid the school guards hanging around, jumping off dangerously high tree branches…

By the time the sun was setting, they were both quite tired and they sat on the warm grass under the trees, resting. The little daisies growing everywhere gave Kim an idea.

“Let’s see who can make a daisy chain flower crown the quickest,” he said, starting to pick a few flowers.

“I don’t know how to make those. All the flowers growing in my kingdom are artificial or for decoration, I’m never allowed to pick them.”

“Here, I’ll show you how to do it.”

Using his nail to make a little hole in the stem of one flower, he linked it up with another, then carried on. She watched with interest. Within a few minutes he had a full flower crown ready.

“Nice!” she said, taking off her headdress which the snake was curled up around, putting it down on the grass beside her. “Go on then, make me a cool hippie flower witch.”

He put the flower crown on her head, then sat back and had a look…

It didn’t suit her. Not even a little bit. Yet despite that, he was hit by a surge of longing so strong it made him feel dizzy. There was just something about the way she was smirking at him, her head tilted at that frustratingly cute angle, glints of gold from the setting sun lighting up her pink hair, the tank top leaving every muscle on her arms exposed…

He knew he should tell her how he felt. He’d promised Max he would do it, and he hadn’t yet. Now was the time.

He was just about to speak when she lay down on the grass on her back, looking up at the sky. “There are actually clouds in this country, it’s such a nice change. I can do that thing they do in movies where they look at the clouds and try to point out shapes. Never done it before. That one there, it looks like a… a snake! It’s totally a snake, right?”

Kim looked at the cloud she was pointing at. “Um… it l-looks like an earthworm to me b-but…”

“Gee, what’s up? You sound ill all of a sudden.”

He certainly felt ill – in particular, too lovesick to function properly. Maybe that was a good thing, though. Maybe she would finally notice. That might be better than outright telling her, which was still too nerve-wracking to properly consider.

“Can we have an arm wrestle?” he asked her suddenly.

“What, now? Sure, I guess, that’s kinda random but why not…”

She turned onto her side and lazily grabbed his hand. He was sure the adrenaline would give him enough strength to win easily, but he was still distracted enough to lose within just a few seconds.

“You’re off your game, dude,” she said. “Are you too tired or something? Because that wasn’t even a challenge.”

Just hearing the word “challenge” would ordinarily have snapped him back into action, but he was hyperaware of the fact that he hadn’t yet let go of her hand, and was sitting so close to her, and everything around them was so idyllic and peaceful, and it was just so overwhelming he could hardly even speak.

“Yeah, I’m tired,” he mumbled.

“You need more sleep. You’ve been working yourself too hard recently.” When he didn’t reply, she waved her other hand in front of his face. “Kim? You there?”

“Sorry, I’m j-just…” He scrambled to think of something to say that wasn’t cheesy. “Your hair… I don’t see it that much because… headdress… anyway it looks, um, really pretty…”

Whoops, that was definitely cheesy.

“Oh, cool, thanks.”

Phew, she didn’t seem to think that was weird.

“Can I stroke it?”

He wanted to smack himself in the face – what kind of stupid, weird question was that? Why didn’t he ever think before speaking?

“What is it with you thinking of me as a cat?” she said, grinning. “You did this at the sleepover too, remember?”

Oh thank goodness, she wasn’t weirded out by that either, despite the fact that it was definitely, objectively, weird.

“Well yeah, you’re really cute,” he said quickly, feeling his cheeks burning. “Not just like a cat, I mean, but like… cute. As in, pretty. N-not as much as me though! I’m the coolest, obviously, haha, but like… you’re second, so…”

She laughed. “You’re seriously the only person I know who has ever called me ‘cute’. Usually the word is ‘annoying’ or ‘intimidating’, but ‘cute’ is new. Clearly I’ve not been scary enough lately. Want me to pretend I’m gonna get the snake to eat you again?”

“If you want.”

“Seriously?” She laughed again. “Kim, you’re after something, aren’t you? You’re being so overly nice to me today! What is it you want from me, a telephone? More skating lessons? A less violent Monopoly game?”

“I’m allowed to be nice, aren’t I?”

“Oh yeah, I’m not complaining! It’s just so weird, like you’re trying to appease me or soften a blow or secretly in love with me or something…”

His heart skipped so many beats he was half sure he was having a heart attack. It must have shown on his face, since she frowned suddenly.

“Kim, are you okay? Did I say something? I was just kidding, I didn’t mean–” She let go of his hand rather quickly and sat up. “Wait a second… okay this sounds really weird but I’m just checking… are you in love with me?”

How on earth was he supposed to answer that? The honest answer was yes! But the way she was frowning, looking as if that was not the answer she wanted to hear…

Still, he had promised Max he would do this. It was now or never.

“Since September.”

He had hoped he would stay calm enough to not run off straightaway to avoid whatever the consequences of his confession were, but as soon as he saw the look of complete shock on her face, he leapt to his feet and tore off without looking back.

Kim did not sleep very well that night. He hadn’t even been down to have dinner, just munching on snacks in his room instead, and was seriously contemplating hiding away in here all of the next day too. He did not want to run into Alix. She probably thought he was a complete weirdo, a creep, she wouldn’t want to be his friend now…

In the morning there was a knock on the door. He stayed as silent as possible just in case it was Alix, but then he heard the reassuring voice of Max on the other side.

“Kim, are you in there? Can I come in?”

Kim opened the door. “Oh man, Max, I could not be happier to see you… How was the gala?”

“It was okay,” Max said. “But I’m actually here with a message. Alix wants to talk to you about something, but she wanted me to check first if you actually want to see her or not. I’m assuming you two left something on a bit of a cliff-hanger yesterday.”

“Yeah…” Kim sighed. “Okay, fine, I’ll talk to her. I may as well get it over with. I’ll tell you everything later, I promise.”

“Alright, I’ll send her along. See you later.”

Kim watched Max walk back down the corridor, feeling dread settling in his stomach. Hopefully this wouldn’t be too bad…

A few minutes later he got another knock on his door, and he reluctantly opened it and let Alix in. For once she didn’t have the snake with her – perhaps it had just eaten or something. Well, at least that meant he wouldn’t be killed with it, no matter what else happened.

“Ignore yesterday,” he said immediately, not really looking at her. “Just pretend that didn’t happen, I’m sorry, I was just being an idiot and I know you’re probably mad at me and–”

“What? No, I’m not mad at you.” She was looking at him with an expression that looked mostly like pity, though it was always hard to tell what she was thinking when she wasn’t trying to make it clear. “It’s okay. But I really have to tell you something, so just be quiet and listen.”

So she wasn’t mad, that was a good start. Hopefully the rest of whatever she was going to say wouldn’t be too bad either.

“At my oracle session, the question I asked Master Fu was if there’s gonna be a succession crisis in my kingdom after I die. He said there will be one. Most people would be really upset about that, but for me… it’s good. That was the answer I wanted. Do you know why?”

Kim shook his head. He had never really thought about kingdom succession very much before.

“It’s because if there’s no one to succeed me, it means I have no heirs. And the way succession laws work in my kingdom, it means I have no spouse either. As in, I never marry or have kids. And most people would be horrified about that, too, but…”

She was looking at the ground, as if she was ashamed or nervous to say it.

“…I don’t even know why, but I just… have this kind of… aversion to stuff like that. You know, romance and marriage and stuff. It’s never interested me. Boys, girls, whatever, I don’t care. I have no preference. As in, my preference is none. And because I’m a royal, I always assumed when I grow up I’ll end up forced into a marriage or something and pressured into providing an heir for the throne, that kind of thing, that always happens to people. But the idea of that… it terrifies me.”

Her voice was so quiet by now it was almost hard to hear. It seemed like this was the first time she was ever saying any of this out loud.

“So I was super relieved when I got Fu’s answer because it means I’ll get to live as the kind of pharaoh I want to, without having to marry anyone or anything, I can’t stand the idea of having to do something like that with no choice. I can just be myself. And I guess it’s kinda weird… that I don’t, you know, ever have crushes on people or know what it’s like to fall in love like that, but... maybe I’m not the only one? I don’t know, I’ve never met anyone else like me, but if as a pharaoh I can let the world know this is who I am then maybe other people like this will come forward saying they feel the same way and I’ll know I’m not alone…”

She finally looked back up at him, though she still seemed somewhat nervous.

“And so yeah, I’m not into you like that. But it’s not personal – I’m not into anyone like that. And I want to let you know that this doesn’t change anything, you’re still my best friend, okay? I mean, it’s actually kinda flattering that you like me. I never expected anyone to, I’m not really… I don’t know, conventional? Feminine? I’m just weird, I never thought anyone would be into me. What do you see in me, anyway?”

Kim’s throat felt so choked up it was a wonder he could even speak. “Honestly I don’t even know… you’re really cool, I guess? So spirited and carefree and the only person who can ever match me in a challenge… it’s inspiring, and awesome, and… uh, not that it matters too much, but you are pretty hot, so…”

She cracked a grin. “So are bossy, intimidating, hot girls your type? Because there was Chloé too, right?”

“Haha yeah, maybe… Did you really not notice I liked you before yesterday? I think the whole class had noticed already.”

“I really didn’t know,” she admitted. “I’m so oblivious when it comes to stuff like this. I mean, I did occasionally think about it. Like when you played that song for me on the day of the Cupid Festival, but then you said it was a friendship song, so…”

“It was a love song.”

“Ah, that makes more sense. And then at spring with the sports bra I wondered too, but I just chalked it up to you being a teenage guy and having a thing for sports bras.”

“Well, I guess it was a combination of all that...”

“Fair enough.”

“Anyway, um, for the record I totally do care about you as a friend too, I promise,” Kim said. “Like, platonically. So thanks for saying you’ll still be my best friend, and we can just carry on like normal… maybe now I’ve got this off my chest this crush will go away… I really just do wanna be your friend. You’re an awesome friend.”

“Yeah, you’re a… a… okay, this is going to sound really cheesy, but I have to say it, so just shut up and listen.”

She took a deep breath, folding her arms and looking at the floor again.

“Just because I’m not in love with you, doesn’t mean I don’t love you, okay? Because I totally do. You’re my best friend, and before this year I didn’t really have any friends, so you’re just… you’re really important to me and this friendship means so much to me, okay? And you’re so awesome and supportive and always there for me… a-and I will be your winggirl. You deserve someone amazing who loves you back. Anyone would be lucky to have you. You’re the best and I just want you to be happy.”

Kim didn’t dare say anything, since he felt sure if he even said a word he would just burst into tears on the spot. He was sure no one had ever said something so nice to him before – except maybe Max.

“And I have something to give you,” Alix said, unfolding her arms and looking up at him again. “I forgot about it ages ago but this all kind of reminded me. Anyway, kneel down.”

He kneeled, now roughly the same height as her.

“Now close your eyes.”

That sounded ominous. Feeling apprehensive, he closed his eyes and waited. He heard her footsteps coming towards him, then she took his face in her hands…

And kissed him.

He was so shocked he opened his eyes – though by that time it was over already anyway.

“That was left over from the mistletoe at the winter party,” she said, and he noticed she was blushing a little. “I thought I might as well do it, since you like me and everything. I guess we’d both forgotten about it.”

He tried not to freak out, though it was difficult when his brain felt like it had turned to mush, and his heartrate was so high he felt like he was going to collapse. He could still feel his lips tingling, though it had only lasted a few seconds at most…

“I hadn’t forgotten,” he admitted. “I just… didn’t want to ask… thought it would be weird…”

“Well yeah, it was pretty weird. But not bad, I guess. Anyway, I’m gonna go brush my teeth and hope I didn’t catch anything from you, so I’ll see you later. And you have my permission to tell Max everything.”

“Thanks.” That was something he was definitely going to do, alright.

“No problem.” She gave him a friendly punch in the arm, then opened the door and left.

Kim didn’t move from where he was for a few minutes, still reeling from the kiss. Memories of his oracle session suddenly came back to him, especially one phrase in particular: don’t get your hopes up.

This was what Master Fu had meant. It was clear now. Kim did indeed get a kiss from Alix, just like he wanted… but not for the reasons he wanted. It was a platonic kiss, if such a thing existed.

But at this point he didn’t even mind. Mostly, he was just relieved that Alix still wanted to be his friend. He was content with that. At least now he had nothing to hide from her, and he knew nothing would get in the way of their friendship. The thought made him feel so much better.

Yeah… friends. That would be for the best.

#three guesses who said aro ace character is #anyway the ace part gets much more obvious later. atm it's mostly just aro #and i will absolutely mention the actual words aromantic and asexual at some point i promise #sorry this chapter took a while i've been so busy this week #lol i dropped in the word 'heartrate' on purpose cause i like to pretend i am funny #anyway from now on events in the story are gonna get a tad more serious #royalty au #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #le chien kim #lila rossi #(not sure if i'll make lila relevant again... i feel like i should but i got nothing planned rn)#max kante #alix kubdel #random stuff #the misadventures of prince kim #aish writes

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