Enjoy~
Chapter Preview:
"Don't you understand? You've been designated as a Conqueror. I'm an Advisor. If you die, then I die." Niou pulled Marui into an alleyway.
"How in the world would I understand that?" Marui looked at the aqua blue-eyed figure standing in front of him.
Niou sighed as he reached into his pocket and took out what looked like a dark purple flower petal. Grabbing Marui's hand, he placed it on his palm.
"Eat it." Niou stared directly into Marui's eyes, taking in the sight of the shining purple pools. Looking down at the petal, Marui sighed. Ah, what the hell. He shoved the soft object into his mouth as a wave of sweetness filled his mouth.
Suddenly the world spiraled around, as Marui dropped into Niou's arms.
"Marui, time for school, honey." The feminine voice echoed through the hallway effectively startling Marui as he pulled the covers off of him. Reaching across the bed, he felt around until his hand met with a bowl.
"Today's candy is... Starburst." Marui murmured unenthusiastically.
He hated Starburst.
He found the day to be one of his worst. Stepping into a puddle, forgetting his gum, and missing morning practice. He would definitely be killed for that.
As much as he enjoyed it, tennis wasn't his favorite hobby. Not even eating candy, visiting his favorite cake shop, or finding a ten-dollar bill on the floor.
No. It was games. Unfortunately for him, the only person that knew his favorite hobby was none other than Niou.
As he walked along the sidewalk leading to the gate, he ignored the whispering girls beside him. He kicked a rock to the side and it landed onto the soil where the grass caught it possessively.
The sun was out. The wind was calm. Turning into the gate, Marui almost knew something drastic was going to happen.
Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong!
"Lunch is over! Please report to your next class." The teachers walked quickly, directing students.
The only thing Marui absolutely hated about the period after lunch was that it was the period. Chemistry class. Marui had nothing against the subject itself. However, he was sitting next to the one person he tried to avoid during every period before this one. You guessed it.
Niou.
"God, this is so boring." Niou flipped the pages of their textbook until the noise started to spread around the room. Marui knew why he tried to stay away from him.
Niou is dangerous.
"Bunta-kun, can you read paragraph eight on page 124 for us?" The teacher pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. And of course, this happened to be the one teacher that hated Marui.
"Uhh..." Marui looked down to the bottom corner of the page, as Niou had stopped flipping.
Page 287. Damn you, Niou.
"I'm waiting." Marui could practically hear the teacher tapping her feet.
"Allow me, Ms. Yoshida." Niou interrupted politely. Was that her name? Marui didn't remember.
"Masaharu-kun, I don't believe I asked for you to answer." The teacher knew very well that "Masaharu-kun" was someone that couldn't possibly end this without chaos.
"Of course, but I assumed you were going in alphabetical order. My name is next. Or is it that you were distracted by something, to fall out of suit?" Niou pressed. There was a pause.
"Very well, Masaharu-kun. Read paragraph eight." Ms. Yoshida replied sternly.
She got him this time. There's no way he could flip the page without her noticing.
"There are many different forms of chemistry..." Niou went on to finish the entire paragraph perfectly. This is one of the reasons why Marui hated him. He hacks life.
"Erm, Well done." The teacher awkwardly resumed her lesson, too humiliated to notice the snickers in the room.
"Jump off a cliff." Marui muttered, as he flipped the pages back.
Niou just smiled and rested his head on his hand, looked up at the board, his hair covering his eyes.
Wait... Was it page 127 or 128? Well, whatever.
Before Marui could turn to the page, he heard the strict voice of Ms. Yoshida fill the room.
"Please stop working, and give your attention to these fine gentlemen." Ms. Yoshida motioned for the two men in black suits to come in. Voices whispered in the room.
"Sorry for interrupting the lesson. We would like to ask Niou Masaharu, and Marui Bunta to come with us." One of the men looked over to where Niou and Marui were sitting.
"Yes, of course." Ms. Yoshida continued her lesson as the two boys gathered their things.
"What's this all about?" Marui asked the white haired boy, knowing that if there was trouble, it was probably Niou's fault.
"Don't say anything to them." Niou replied quietly, in a sharp tone. Marui decided not to question it and reminded himself to ask Niou about this later.
"Right this way." The men walked out of the doorway as Marui moved to follow them. Suddenly, once the classroom door was closed, Niou grabbed Marui, dumped their stuff on the floor and ran in the opposite direction.
"What—What are you doing? Are you nuts?!" Marui tried to free himself from Niou's grip, but failed miserably as Niou yanked harder. Marui looked back to see the two men following them through the halls.
"Sanada." Yukimura sat on a bench outside of the school.
"Yeah. The game officially starts today doesn't it?" Sanada walked over and leaned on the bench.
"The last person to be recruited into the game was Marui. He missed morning practice, didn't he?" Yukimura smiled.
"Yeah." Sanada repositioned his hat. Yukimura laughed.
"I find it kind of funny that they recruited you into the game second out of all of us." Yukimura pulled out his iPhone and scrolled down the list.
"Somehow I don't find it surprising that Atobe's partner was recruited first." Sanada smirked.
"Time to go." Yukimura walked off trailed by Sanada. Without warning, Sanada turned around and swiftly shot a string of sharp water at a bird flying above them, which fell to the ground, and shattered into blue ice. All that was left was a teal flower petal.
"What's the matter?" Yukimura asked his Advisor, though he had already guessed. Sanada looked at his Conqueror, deciding it wasn't important enough to report.
"Nothing. Let's continue." Sanada grabbed the flower petal. Yukimura paused, and then continued walking. Meanwhile, Sanada balled his fist, successfully crushing the flower petal.
Atobe, that bastard.
Niou ran out the door, and shot some menacing purple globs at the men. The men fell to the ground limply.
"Listen up, and don't ask any questions. I don't care whether you believe me or not." Niou dragged Marui behind him.
"Those men are here to recruit you into the game. They're supposed to try to capture you. If you can't get rid of them or your Advisor doesn't save you, then you and your Advisor back to your normal life. I'm an Advisor, which means that I'm here to protect a Conqueror. Yeah, unfortunately that Conqueror is you." Niou continued.
"Dammit." Marui bit his lip.
Niou smirked, "I'll explain your job later. First of all, there are thirteen different elements."
"Thirteen, wow. You give a whole new meaning to being unlucky." Marui rolled his eyes.
"Ahem. The elements are Healing, Fire, Sun, Time, Telekinesis, Earth, Ice, Water, Psychic, Poison, Animal, Space and Air. As far as I know, there are 52 people playing in the game. 26 of them are Conquerors and 26 of them are Advisors. You know what that means, right?" Niou looked back at the figure he was dragging behind him.
"All 52 people are paired up with another, right?" Marui answered.
"Wow, you actually have a brain up there." Niou poked Marui in the head.
"Just continue your explanation." Marui waved the hand away.
"The Conqueror and Advisor both have the same element. Each element has four players/two pairs in the game who wield it. Though each pair is still against each other." Niou smiled wickedly.
"Against each other?" Marui tilted his head to the side.
"The Conqueror and Advisor pair is basically chosen at random by this organization called Zexla." Niou ignored him.
"Zexla!? That's my dad's company! He's the vice-president!" Marui froze. Niou's eyes widened for a moment as he continued dragging them along.
"Once the two people are chosen, the men in black are sent to covertly try to recruit the Advisor. If it succeeds, they go for the Conqueror. If both players successfully make it into the game, then our bodies are replaced with fake bodies that live our lives the same way we would live it. Right now, there are replacements in our bodies and no one else can join the game. No one besides players and game makers can see you. If we somehow win the game, we would be reverted back to our bodies. However, the point of the game is to "kill" the Conquerors. If a Conqueror dies, then his Advisor does too. When that happens we would completely lose all ties with our partner. We wouldn't remember each other." Niou didn't look at Marui this time. He didn't realize the look of horror on Marui's face.
"Can't we stop the stupid game? Let me see my father! Maybe-"
"If we could, don't you think I would've done it already!?" Niou's voice cracked.
"If anyone wins the game. Anyone. Then they would remember everything and can make one wish. However, they can't wish for everyone to remember each other or anything like that." Niou continued.
"How do you know all this?" Marui asked.
"The men in black inform you once you have evaded them." Niou replied.
"Then answer this. If you knew about this game, and knew the rules to it, then why? Why did you bother "saving" me from those men? If I didn't escape them, then... then we wouldn't be playing!" Marui shook.
"But everyone else would." Niou answered. Marui looked up. Niou grabbed his shoulders and shook.
"If you knew that everyone would be playing this game. If you knew that they might not remember each other. Then wouldn't you try? Try to come up with a way... to know. To understand. To resolve." Niou stopped shaking him. Marui already knew he had lost. He knew he had to.
"...That must be why everyone is playing..." Marui sighed.
"Look, all we have to do is find away around that wish. That's the key." Niou turned around and continued running with Marui following behind.
"So... what is our element? Can I use it?" Marui asked.
"Not telling. No, you can't use it yet. Only Advisors have to power given to them from the start. Conquerors have the ability to change their powers. Right now, you're neutral." Niou continued.
"Anyway what do Conquerors and Advisors do?" Marui asked annoyed.
"I told you that Advisors have to duty of protecting their Conqueror, and can kill other Advisors, but not Conquerors. They can only have one power for the whole game. Conquerors job is to kill other Conquerors or Advisors. I didn't tell you this, but you can't attack people with the same element. That keeps Conquerors from hurting Advisors, when I decide to give you powers." Niou explained.
"I can't get used to all of this..." Marui groaned.
"Don't you understand? You've been designated as a Conqueror. I'm an Advisor. If you die, then I die." Niou pulled Marui into an alleyway.
"How in the world would I understand that?" Marui looked at the aqua blue-eyed figure standing in front of him.
Niou sighed as he reached into his pocket and took out what looked like a dark purple flower petal. Grabbing Marui's hand, he placed it on his palm.
"Eat it." Niou stared directly into Marui's eyes, taking in the sight of the shining purple pools. Looking down at the petal, Marui sighed. Ah, what the hell. He shoved the soft object into his mouth as a wave of sweetness filled his mouth.
Suddenly the world spiraled around, as Marui dropped into Niou's arms.
"Wake up." Niou shook the redhead.
"Ugh. What happened?" Marui rubbed his eyes.
"You're now a Zespurpleas, which means you control the power of poison. The name comes from the color theme, and ours is purple."
"Poison!? I should've known." Marui sat up from a mattress.
"Based on the color of the flower petal, you can change powers. I'd advise you not to eat anymore flower petals without my consent, because if you do, that technically means you've changed groups and joined someone else. Advisors can create petals, and transform them into trackers, weapons, etc to try to get a Conqueror to convert elements and throw them off. Conquerors can't change their element for a three days." Niou hummed.
"Yeah." Marui looked around. It seemed to be some kind of basement.
"Listen, if a Conqueror dies, then so does the Advisor. But if an Advisor dies the Conqueror won't die. It seems like Zexla's into these kind of games." Niou finished.
"Well, not to be rude, the explanations all nice and everything but teach me how to shoot poison out of my fingertips." Marui demanded.
"Advisors are immediately masters of their power when they are given it. Conquerors need to learn step by step." Niou added.
"That's why I said teach me." Marui smirked.
Not much to say, other than how much a first chapter is annoying to make. Please review and give feedback! :D Don't forget to ask questions if you're confused about anything.