For Elysis, Yuki-chan, luckystar03, tmae, LtCol.S3, xpanda-boox: Thank you for your reviews!!
Disclaimer: Neither Prince of Tennis nor Sailor Moon is mine.
Seishun Moon
Chapter II: Ryoma's Tale (part 1)
"Before I start, I want to make sure that you will listen to me no matter how random I sound to you," Ryoma stated. Eight heads nodded eagerly. They were too curious to disagree. "Firstly, I come from future, a century from now."
Eight pairs looked at him in various stages of disbelief.
"One century from now, this world has become an unbelievable realm for you to imagine. As for Japan, it is divided into several districts. The largest one is Kantou District, also known as Kantou Crown. Nah, Kantou Crown is divided into two territories. They are Crystal Tokyo and Bronze Kanagawa. However, they are larger than Tokyo and Kanagawa today. Before, there were other territories too but then they merged into those two.
"Inside each territory, there are some sort of small kingdoms. Each kingdom's area is probably as large as a city today. The mightiest kingdom will be the head of territory in which it is. The head of Bronze Kanagawa for is Rikkai Kingdom, as for Crys…"
"Rikkai!" Momoshiro cut in. "It is a kingdom's name a century from now!"
"SSSHH!!"
"Sorry…"
Ryoma continued as if there was no interruption. "As for Crystal Tokyo, Hyotei Kingdom was the head for over ten years."
"Hyotei?! Over ten years?" Kikumaru shouted in disbelief.
"Was?" Fuji questioned as well.
Ryoma smirked at his 'mother'. Okaa-san is sharp, he thought.
"Mm hmm. It was, but is no longer. The head of Crystal Tokyo for the moment is…" Ryoma grinned cheekily, adjusting his cap. "Seishun Kingdom."
"WHOA! You hear that, Oishi? It's Seigaku! It's Seigaku!"
"Not Seigaku, Eiji, just the name is same. That's a century from now, remember?"
"Nyaa, we have all died by then, eh?"
"Eiji-senpai, don't make it sound so gloomy! We're still youths!"
"Minna-san, attention!" Tezuka's voice thundered. Silence. "Ryoma-san, continue."
"Mada mada dane. As I said before, the mightiest kingdom will be the head of its territory. And so, the mightiest territory will be the head of its district. For two years, the head of Kantou Crown was Bronze Kanagawa, led by Rikkai Kingdom. However, as well as being the head of Crystal Tokyo, Seishun Kingdom is able to bring its territory to become the current head of Kantou Crown."
"Sounds wonderful," Kawamura said. "If only we can do it in Kantou Tournament too…"
"Of course we can do it, Taka-senpai!" Momoshiro responded spiritedly.
"If you allow me to continue…" Ryoma's voice muffled the little chit-chat. "I've said before that I come from Crystal Tokyo, right? To be precise, I come from Seishun Kingdom. Nah, in the ten-year period while Hyotei was the head of Crystal Tokyo, Seishun Kingdom was ruled by a man called Echizen Nanjirou."
"Nanjirou?" Inui asked in a low voice. "Sounds familiar…"
"Now I will explain how the ruler of the kingdom is determined, because this is a vital point," Ryoma stated. "There is a grand annual tournament held by each kingdom. The winner will be the emperor while the runner-up will be the prime minister. Maybe it's similar to what you call—what's the word?—ah, election.
"For ten years, Echizen Nanjirou always came out as the winner. However, it seemed like he only participated in the tournament because he enjoy the battle and not because he wanted to be an emperor. That's why Seishun Kingdom is in a mess when he ruled it.
"For some reason, he didn't participate in the last tournament. However, another surprise happened. There was a very young lad who could beat even the most experienced battlers. Soon enough, he became the emperor. Under his leadership, Seishun Kingdom grows from an unseeded kingdom into the head of Crystal Tokyo and eventually, Kantou Crown."
"Whoa, sounds great! Who is it?" Kikumaru asked excitedly, almost forgetting that it was a story from the next century.
"Oh, do I really have to mention a name?" Ryoma smirked and threw a meaningful look at a certain direction. "Tezuka Kunimitsu."
Silence.
"WHAT?! Tezuka-buchou… uh… WHAT?!"
"Too much to be a coincident, hmm, the percentage is 21…"
"Te-Tezuka…"
"Fusshuu…"
"Nya! Nya! How can you live till the next century and be very young and become an outstanding emperor and bring a kingdom…"
"Saa, is that name gifted to excel in everything?"
"Ryoma-san," Tezuka finally responded after being dumbfounded for a full minute. "You can assure that you are not joking with us?"
"Mada mada dane. You will believe eventually, Otou-san," Ryoma tried not to look so satisfied. Otou-san's expression is really priceless, he grinned inwardly, I can use it to blackmail Otou-san in the future. "Now let me continue first."
Tezuka nodded and half-absentmindedly ordered his teammates to shut up. They obliged and were eager to hear the continuation.
Ryoma cleared his throat, "The Emperor, the Empress and the Prime Minister do their job very well. But, like in any other political issue, there is always…"
"Empress?" Fuji asked, staring straight at Ryoma. "Is there any?"
Ryoma's smirk told them that he had waited Fuji to ask that. We come to the interesting part, eh, Okaa-san? "Yes, there is. Hmm, how can I explain this? The young Emperor falls in love with the runner-up who is supposed to be prime minister, so they are together as Emperor and Empress and let the third-place winner take the role as Prime Minister."
"Isn't the tournament only for guys?" Kaidoh asked.
"It is."
Silence.
"May I make a guess, Ryoma-kun?" Inui asked, pushing his glasses upwards a little. Ryoma looked expectant. "Is the runner-up's name… Fuji Shuusuke?"
Several gasps were heard. Fuji's blue eyes snapped open in surprise. Ryoma smirked again and tilted his head to look at Fuji, then at Inui, "Not bad, Inui-jisan. What's the percentage?"
"98," Inui wondered a little how Ryoma knew his habit about percentages. "My next guess is a little more random, but there's 68 percent that the third-place winner is…" Inui's bespectacled eyes swept over the faces around him before continuing, "… Oishi Shuichiroh."
It was Oishi's turn to jump in surprise. Ryoma raised an impressed eyebrow, "Che, the real dataman Inui Sadaharu."
"Thanks. Now you can continue, Ryoma-kun."
"Well, where was I? Oh, yes. Because of Seishun Kingdom's exceptional progress from just a small kingdom to the mightiest one, there are several parties that envy us. Big kingdoms like Hyotei and Rikkai challenge us fairly into a tournament to determine the true conqueror of Kantou Crown. However, there are small kingdoms which used quite dirty tricks to bring us down. Most of the effort came in vain.
"But then, just a week before the tournament against Hyotei and Rikkai, a small kingdom named St. Rudolph Kingdom attacked Seishun Palace. The kingdom's witch—namely Misaki Hajime or something—poisoned the Empress into sleeping eternally and broke the Emperor's shoulder with a curse."
-
A/N: I'm forced to divide Ryoma's tale into two. It's long, really. I know it's a bit boring, but here I tell you that I always pay great attention on details. Good details clear background, right? More action will come in chapter 4. Be patient with me ;) Tell me what you think, okay? See you next chapter!
Next chapter: Ryoma's Tale (part 2)… what else?
Mini dictionary:
Okaa-san: Mother
Senpai: Senior