.o0o.
"He's not as dumb as a rock." Shuu clarified as he gathered his books, picking up the conversation where they'd left it upon entering the classroom. He and Touma had silently agreed to not mention Ryo. Touma found it ironic that while Shuu and Ryo were very similar in personality with similar interests, they absolutely could not stand each other. They were both extremely loyal to their friends, felt Chinese food was superior to Japanese, loved martial arts, hated math class... the list went on and on. But what struck Touma now was that they both completely adored the King.
"He did bomb every exam they gave him."
Shuu made a face. "That's not true!"
"Right. He passed the physical exam with flying colors." The pair walked down the hall together, it was out of Touma's way to accompany Shuu, but he liked to stretch out these moments they had together. "So, he's what? Physically smart?"
"You're impossible. Just because he doesn't have the education doesn't mean he's not capable of learning." Sometimes, Shuu amazed him. "And that's not what I was going to tell you about. He's coming to Han A High!"
Ryo hadn't mentioned that. This information must have been released this morning. Touma looked at Shuu's thrilled and expectant face and had to smile, but he floundered for words. "That's cool."
"That's not just cool, Touma." corrected Shuu. "That's awesome!"
"I don't see what the big deal is. He lives in town."
"You don't get it. You can't talk to the King. You can hardly see him outside of tournaments. He's always doing some advanced training some place that no one knows about. Now, we're going to see him like every day."
Touma knew this. Ryo had told him often enough, "He's always away training. Hardly anyone ever even sees the guy. And does it ever pay off! He's placed in every competition he's ever been in, including a wide spread of martial arts forms and put a sword in his hands and he's guaranteed to win. He's only fifteen, same as us, and yet he's won the last three world kendo tournaments on the adult level."
So Touma told Shuu the same thing he'd always told Ryo. "You sound like a fangirl."
"So what if I get excited about this? You hardly get excited about anything. You like martial arts well enough, what've you got against this guy?"
'Same thing you've got against Ryo.' Touma thought. 'He monopolizes the time of friends that you hold dear to you.' But Touma didn't voice his thoughts. It was hard enough being jealous of a world champion, but he wasn't even jealous of the King's skill at martial arts. Touma dreaded the arrival of the King because it would mark the day that his only friends abandon him. "Nothing. When's he supposed to come here?"
"Tomorrow."
Touma fought the urge to punch the wall and forced his face into a smile. If Shuu noticed how painful this was for him, he didn't comment. "Wow. That's... quick."
"Yeah, well..." Shuu stopped and looked around them to see if anyone was listening. He lowered his voice so that Touma had to lean in to hear. "Apparently, social services required it. The King's family got pressured into taking that survey of althletic performers' intelligences. When the King failed every one, social services started to question whether his family had actually been upholding their homeschooling duties. They've asked for the King to be enrolled full time in a local high school for the remainder of the schoolyear. If he passes all of his courses, he can continue with his homeschooling and the world is non the wiser. But if he fails, he will be put into foster care until the parents are deemed good guardians."
Touma looked a little skeptical. "Where'd you hear this? The tabloids?"
"Well, you know that while my mom runs the family restaurant, my dad works at social services, right?" Touma vaguely recalled this. Shuu might have mentioned it briefly, but the restaurant took up so much of their lives that he often forgot there was more to Shuu's family. "He was the one assigned to their case."
"Isn't this information confidential?"
"Technically, yes. Which is why you can't tell anyone. But dad thinks that things are going to be really hard on the King for a while and he'll need a good, reliable friend at this school." Shuu puffed up his chest and Touma took that to mean that Shuu would be acting as the good friend.
Touma rolled his eyes. "While that's pretty cool, I'm pretty sure you broke confidentiallity again to tell me."
"Technically, yes." Shuu repeated, completely unperturbed by this fact. "But you'd have found this out soon anyway." The bell resounded and Shuu turned into the next classroom, leaving his last comment unexplained.
.o0o.
AN: Wow! I got a review. I like that even after all these years, people are still reading fanficiton about Ronin Warriors. More reviews please! I love hearing that people are actually appreciating my work.^^ This time, I'll shoot for two reviews!