Title: The Ace Prince and His Crown: A Battery of Legends

aka "How To Be a Proper Prince: Step-by-Step Instructions from a Crown in the Know"

Chapter: Prologue: In the Beginning

Fandom: Oofuri (Ookiku Furikabutte or Big Windup!)

Genre: AU; Fairy Tale; Humor; Crack; Romance(?)

Pairing(s): Eventually Abe+Mihashi and possibly Hanai+Tajima? MAYBE A BUNCH OF OTHERS? idk what do you guys like

Rating: G (at the moment)

Warnings: ...I'm ridiculous, and lack of baseball haha

Words: 1,586

Notes: aahhhahahahah what. what. Lawl also this chapter makes it sounds like I hate Mihashi or something haha I love him though! heeartsss I enjoyed writing this xD

Sakanda presents

An Oofuri fairy tale...

The Ace Prince and His Crown: A Battery of Legends

aka "How To Be a Proper Prince: Step-by-Step Instructions from a Crown in the Know"

Prologue: In the Beginning...

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away (and where everything made little sense), there lived a young prince named Mihashi. Mihashi was Crown Prince to the great (though recently annexed) Kingdom of Nishiura, which was famous for not only its young age, but also its freshly squeezed orange juice.

And though Mihashi was crown prince to this prosperous kingdom, still he despaired, for things had not always been good for him, and the experiences of his troubled past left him with deep and painful scars (i.e. an identity complex and a terrible personality. Also, very strange mannerisms). For you see, years back, when he was but a child, Mihashi's father, who was King to Nishiura, mysteriously disappeared. Mihashi's uncle Shiga – who at the time had been contently practicing as Court Mathematician – was reluctantly forced to take the throne, for the kingdom was still young, and would not have survived the vicious family feud between lesser royals as they vied for their right at the crown.

The problem arose because King Shiga had been married to a beautiful young woman, now deceased, who had left him with a stepson from a previous marriage. In normal circumstances, such a situation would never had threatened Mihashi's place as heir (since according to Nishiura law, stepchildren "usually turned out to be bad guys"), but Mihashi's right to his crown had always been in question, for his father had eloped with his mother, a woman of non-royal blood, and his legitimacy had been argued over for years.

The stepson himself was one of those rare few who were an exception to Nishiura law, and in fact, did not want the crown. Kanou had lived happily with his Aunt and Uncle in the neighboring Kingdom of Mihoshi for most of his life, and while he thought it would be pretty awesome to be a prince, he both did not want to leave his country and was one of the few who thought Mihashi deserved his princehood.

King Shiga, too, thought the right belong to his nephew (because he didn't really know the other kid), so there really should not have been a problem, but the lesser royals were the meddling type, and so they forced Kanou to come to Nishiura so he could 'officially renounce his right to the throne', where they intended to delay him until he warmed up to the idea of being the prince. Kanou warily made the not so long journey to the Nishiura's capital, Balpahrk, in the company of his closest and most loyal companions. They were greeted at the gates by King Shiga, Prince Mihashi, and Prince's Mihashi's mom (who there was a lot of confusion over, because nobody knew what they should address her as, never having experienced this sort of situation), before being grandly escorted inside. Kanou attempted to go out of his way to assure Mihashi that he had no intention of taking his crown, but Mihashi, having a complete lack of confidence due to a lot of royal bullying, did not believe him and just fidgeted a lot in a very un-princely manner.

And so, despite the royals' attempted plot to 'stick it to the man', and Mihashi's general lack of never making eye contact with anyone, Kanou had absolutely no desire for the crown (and Mihashi had no desire to give it). He planned to do the renouncing ceremony the very next day, so that he could return home to Mihoshi, but it was then that his closest friend Hatake intervened. Hatake argued that Kanou was being foolish, that he was born to be a prince, and that he should claim the right from that sniveling wimp, Mihashi (the two of them didn't exactly start out on the right foot). Kanou disagreed, and insisted that he wanted nothing of the sort, but Hatake would not back down and talked him into lingering for another week (something about bonding with his stepfather or something).

A week stretched into two, and two into a month, until Kanou knew enough about math and alpha waves that he thought his brain would explode, and Hatake had terrorized Mihashi so much that the prince refused to come out of his room. Kanou begged to go home already, but Hatake insisted they stay for just a few more days, and it was the night after when Hatake finally managed to corner Mihashi in the kitchens, after he'd snuck out of his room to find something to eat (the servants had been withholding food from him, hoping to draw him out).

"You!" said Hatake in a loud and commanding tone that made Mihashi flinch. "You sniveling weakling! You don't deserve the crown, give it up! It's Kanou's right!"

"I-I-I..." Mihashi sniveled. "I... I won't! I'm the p-p-prince...!" he cowered in the corner, trembling.

Hatake roared, enraged. "How dare you! What have you ever done to deserve it? Kanou struggles day and night to ensure his aunt and uncle have enough to live on!" he lied, conveniently forgetting Kanou was stepchild to a king and therefore financially secure. "You think just because your father use to be King that you automatically become a prince?"

I d... I do-don- ..." Mihashi stuttered, confused, because he was pretty sure that actually was why he was a prince.

"I challenge you!" Hatake shouted, before Mihashi could think about it too much. "For the crown! If I win, Kanou becomes the crown prince! If you win..." here he conveniently mumbled and trailed off. "Is it a deal?"

Mihashi blinked his watery eyes, terrified. "...W-w-w-wait, I... I-I..."

"It's a deal then!" The larger boy reached out and forcefully uncurled Mihashi's clenched hand, making them shake on it. "Come on!" he demanded, dragging him out of the room.

And so, it was sometime later that an excited Kanou discovered them in Hatake's guest chamber, locked hand and hand, in the midst of an arm wrestling contest (Mihashi sucked so much at the more traditional dueling events that even Hatake felt guilty at the thought of challenging him to them). At that moment, it appeared that Hatake was just short of breaking Mihashi's arm. "Hatake! Stop! Stop!" Kanou shouted, quickly rushing to separate them before there was permanent damage. "Listen! I'm a prince!"

Hatake released the other's hand, looking up at his friend with confusion and ignoring Mihashi's tears as the smaller boy cradled his arm. "What are you talking about, Kanou? What's happened?"

Prince Kanou shot a quick, worried look at his crying relative before gracing his best friend with a wide smile. "Apparently, my nameless father was Mihoshi royalty! The King just realized he's going bald, started having his mid-life crisis, and had the delayed realization that he doesn't have any heirs. Instead of doing the logical thing and finding a wife, he had his court scribe go through hundreds of old and dusty genealogy papers, and discovered my father should have been next in line (somehow). They did some tracking down, and conveniently discovered that I exist and that I'm here in Nishiura, on the brink of being crowned heir, and so they rushed to inform me before I could become the Nishiura prince (even though that would have actually worked out in their favor and eventually allowed Mihoshi to reclaim Nishiura as their territory, but who cares about politics)!" Kanou finished his (thinly pieced together) explanation, eyes sparkling.

"That's wonderful!" Hatake cried, jumping up to hug Kanou in a strictly friends manner.

"Isn't it? We have to return home as soon as possible though!"

"Then let's have the renouncing ceremony tonight!"

"Great idea!" Kanou turned to Mihashi, giving him a sincere look. "Now you can be the Prince without any opposition. Don't let anyone ever question your right to the throne again. It was always meant to be yours." He clasped Mihashi on the shoulder, causing the other boy to let out a frightened gasp. "I hope someday, when we're both great Kings, we will be able to meet each other out on the battlefield," he declared, giving his step-cousin a friendly smile.

"...U-uhh..." Mihashi managed, confused and more than slightly startled at that idea.

"Great! Then it's settled!" He patted Mihashi's shoulder in a good-natured gesture, before leaving with Hatake to set up the ceremony.

And so, everything went as was planned, and Mihashi was once again the unquestionable Crown Prince, though he was now shadowed with those past events and all of their repercussions (i.e. a very sore arm and dread of becoming king). And though those lesser royals still attempted to argue over his legitimacy, King Shiga put his foot down, and let it be known far and wide that Mihashi would always hold the title of Nishiura's "# 1 Prince", no matter what events unfolded.

So it was, years later, that King Shiga called the of now of age Crown Prince of Nishiura in to hold an audience with him. Mihashi approached the throne, nervous, fidgeting, and looking anywhere but at his uncle, and King Shiga said onto him, "Nephew, I must ask of you a great favor. I need you to go on a quest for me."

Mihashi gulped, tears welling up in his eyes, for both that he knew his uncle would only ask this of him if he had no other option, and because Mihashi knew that ultimately, he would fail him. "W-w-why me, U-uncle...?"

"Because, Mihashi, you are Nishiura's only Prince, and I need you... to rescue a Princess."

to be continued

A/N: What do you think? Comments, feedback? Any thoughts are appreciated! Don't worry, I def plan to continue this, just might be a little while haha. Any pairing, characters you guys definitely want to see/are opposed to? During process feedback is always fun!