Enemy of the King

Being the enemy of the King means:

Getting confronted by his fan club at the school gates in the morning.

"You're Kagami Shizuka?"

Shizuka bit the inside of her cheek. Would they believe her if she answered, 'no'?

"Come with us."

My, my, my. Just like how they did it in those Japanese dramas, huh? The girls acting in a group. Quite cute.

She followed them a short distance away, where the leader of the group turned around and crossed her arms. "We're warning you out of the good of our hearts," the pretty female student declared. "Stay away from Atobe-sama! Atobe-sama is for everyone!"

Shizuka raised both hands in the gesture, 'don't shoot'.

"…Don't worry, I've about as much affection for him as he does for me," Shizuka said.

"What?" The leader girl was wearing a frown. "You think this is a joke? Atobe-sama hates your guts!"

…Whoops. Maybe that came out wrong.

The girl stomped up to her furiously, an intimidating glare in her eyes—quite difficult to pull off, considering that Shizuka was the taller of the two. "I'll show you what happens if you get close to Atobe-sama!" She raised her hand high.

Shizuka caught her wrist on its downward swing.

"What!?"

As much as the girl tried to twist away from her grasp, Shizuka's grip held firm. The other girls started to rush forward to assist, but they hesitated as Shizuka began to speak.

"Hey…" Normally, verbal abuse did not affect her. A little water, also, did not warrant enough for her to act. However, if they wanted to actually get physical.

"A cute girl like you shouldn't get so violent," Shizuka voiced coolly, silkily.

'Shizuka, a woman must always embody her fine upbringing. Even if she is in pain, she only exudes elegance. Even if she is indignant, she must smile and not speak unless it is her place to do so.'

Shizuka grasped the girl's chin. "A cute girl like you…should come crying to me and pleading, 'Please, I've been in love with Atobe-sama ever since I've first met him. Please surrender him over to me!'" The girl flushed a bright red, though it could be from either embarrassment or anger.

"And then maybe I'll…" Shizuka released her in a charming voice "think about it."

As the girl shrieked furiously behind her, Shizuka laughed to herself on her way back to the gate.

Being the enemy of the King means:

Your shoe locker is never safe from theft and/or vandalism.

Shizuka shut her shoe locker with a frown.

Her indoor shoes were gone.

"Kagami-san. The bell just rung."

Shizuka bowed in apology. "I apologize for running late."

Her homeroom teacher adjusted his glasses. "You didn't change into your indoor shoes."

Shizuka answered confidently, "They weren't in my shoe locker."

A few snickers sounded among her classmates.

Oblivious as expected, the teacher repeated, "Weren't in your shoe locker?"

"Ah." Shizuka gave a fake smile. "Someone put a dead rat in one of my shoes last morning. I wasn't about to go near and touch them until I brought sanitary gloves with me today. But, I guess someone was kind enough to toss them out for me this morning. It was pretty gross, you know? I do wonder how they dealt with the rat."

At that, two of the girls at the back of the room rose shrieking from their seats.

"Oi! Nanami! Azuza!" the teacher yelled after them, but they were already running down the halls. "Where do you think you're going during class!?" To the girls' restroom. To scrub their hands. Probably.

Shizuka refrained a small laugh. "I was just kidding, Sensei. Of course, no one would pull such an outrageous prank at this academy."

Her teacher looked at her like she was the cause of his headache. "To your seat, Shizuka."

She made her way toward her desk at the back.

A guy before her stuck out his leg to trip her just as she passed.

She stepped on his leg. And grounded her heel for good measure.

"OW! You bitch-!"

Pfft.

Did they think she was someone who couldn't take on a little bullying?

It was going to take more than that to get her to give up.

Being the enemy of the King means:

Your classmates volunteer you to answer questions in attempts to embarrass you.

It was very unfortunate for her that her level of Japanese was behind theirs.

"Sensei! Kagami would like to share her interpretation of that passage!"

Shizuka glared at the boy seated in front of her, to the left side of the room.

"Oh?" Their Japanese teacher turned from the board. "Kagami-san?" He waited expectantly.

…

She stood from her seat. "The plum spirit in this piece represents innocence. The snow which it longs for symbolizes purity, but no matter how long she waited, it never came. For the villagers, who took her from her birth place, peace never returned to the land; that is their curse."

"Interesting interpretation," the teacher replied, "but incorrect." Giggles were heard around her.

"The plum tree blossoms only in winter," the teacher went on to explain, "Thus, it symbolizes that without a harsh environment, the plum spirit could never reach her full potential. The title of this piece, 'Curse of the Plum Tree', means exactly that."

"What?" The guy who had gotten her called, Hachiya, said mockingly, "You didn't even know this much?"

...

"Kagami-san," the Japanese teacher drew attention back on her. "It isn't easy for you to catch up, is it? Supplementary lessons-"

"Won't be necessary, Sensei," Shizuka replied, sitting back down. "But, for this time's literary review, perhaps you could make an exception…and allow me to work with a partner?"

"A partner?" the teacher asked.

"Yes. Since Hachiya is so advanced in this subject."

"Hah!?" Hachiya slammed his arm down so hard his desk rattled.

"Oh?" Shizuka tilted her head slightly. "You were playing on your phone the entire class, I thought you were already ahead of all this material."

As his mouth opened and closed in shock and anger, the Japanese teacher very deliberately, and very ominously went up to him and confiscated his phone. "Detention."

But Shizuka was not yet done. "Please, Sensei, let me partner up with Hachiya. I learn so much faster in a group project. Why, in the last group project I participated in, we were even able to attain a 56 out of 100."

Hachiya's wasn't the only jaw that dropped upon hearing that.

No one admitted such embarrassing grades so happily. Furthermore, even though they were members of the 'F' class, there was no one who was purposefully aiming for a low grade.

As expected, even though her request had been rejected by the Japanese teacher, no one tried to volunteer her for questions again.

Being the enemy of the King means:

When you're passing recess at your desk, students peer through the windows of your classroom like you're some rare animal at a zoo.

Once, just once, Shizuka noticed the King himself glancing in on his way somewhere, his toned arms folded beneath the uniform jacket he wore like a cape.

And, just because she had been put into a foul mood that morning, Shizuka gave him a triumphant wave.

Do your worst, phony king.

…

In hindsight, she shouldn't have done that. It really would be the end for her if he were to pull out her scholarship.

"You…you're the type that dies young, aren't you?" Katsuji Nao asked dryly from the desk next to hers.

Being the enemy of the King means:

All the basketballs during PE were aimed at you.

"Finally realized that they won't play seriously, did you?" Katsuji Nao asked in a drawl as Shizuka took a seat in the bleachers. "Don't tell me that, even now, you have some expectations from class 2F?"

A peal of excited squeals robbed Shizuka of the chance to reply. She knew what that signified by then.

"Don't tell me PE is a combined class," Shizuka said tersely.

"Well, not normally," Nao replied, eyes on the other end of the gymnasium. "Only occasionally, our PE teacher will permit a combined class like this."

On the opposite court, it looked like the guys from the other set were playing 3 vs 3 basketball.

"Atobe-sama!" the girls were screaming.

"The reason being," Nao stated with lame sarcasm, "Our PE teacher wants us to learn the importance of 'teamwork'."

…

I see. If you watched for a while, you'd start to notice that team A was completely dominated by one player alone.

"Atobe-sama!" the girls cheered as he scored another basket.

"Arrrgh, dammit!" Shishido Ryou put his foot down. "Atobe! If you're not even going to bother passing to your teammates, I might as well join the other team!"

"Ah…no, Shishido-san," the opposing team's players raised their hands in surrender. "No matter how we think about it, it's impossible…"

"What!?"

The self-assured laughter of Hyoutei Academy's king runf out in midst of the argument. "That's right. Just who do you think I am? Ore-sama is undefeatable!" He flourished out his arms, issuing out the invitation. "Challenge me if you don't know how to spell 'common sense'!"

Naturally, no one dared make their presence known.

"Keh…!" Shishido's grip tightened on the basketball in his hands. He slammed it down, pointing a finger at the captain of the boys' tennis team. "Atobe! Let's just have a 1 on 1 match!"

"Ahn? Ma. It'll make no difference even if you come at me 3 to 1," Atobe boasted. Just to make that clear, he waved aside the remaining member of his team.

With that set aside, the two looked to the ball, in time to see Shizuka picking it up from the floor.

"Then…" Shizuka gave a half-smile. "Would you mind if I joined you?" she asked Atobe's opponent.

Recognition flashed briefly in Shishido's eyes. "Huh? You-…?"

"What do you think you're doing!? Get off the court!" "Get away from Atobe-sama!"

Booing rose from the bleachers

"Ho? You're going to accept help from that girl?" His fingers rising to press against his cheekbone, Atobe taunted, "You sure she won't drag you down, instead?"

"H-hey…" Shishido glanced sidelong at her, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. "Do you even know how to play?"

In response, Shizuka adjusted the hold she had on the ball and bent her knees. She knew as soon as she released the ball that this one would go in.

It fell through the hoop perfectly.

The noise from the bleachers quieted.

Shishido, is it? Shizuka looked to the momentarily stunned boy. "Let's play."

He looked to her, and answered with a lazy charm, "Yeah."

Atobe Keigo observed the sudden camaraderie between the two, his confidence unshaken. "Ho…?"

The game started with two against one.

"…Hey…that girl…" the spectators talked amongst themselves "…she can pull some stunts."

It was true. While it was natural for the national level athletes of their tennis club to be able to execute those flashy moves, it was totally unexpected that a girl from class F was able to keep up.

Shizuka loved Shishido's speed and his footwork. As long as she could get the ball to him, he was at the net within seconds. As for her, her forte belonged in stealing, feinting, and technique. Their individual playing styles seemed to click, and they were leading the game.

Another basket.

"I see…"

Atobe switched his attention from the ball over to the two of them.

"You showed me some good team work. Now, as thanks," he raised one hand high overhead, "I'll show you what true teamwork looks like." Snap.

"Kabaji."

"Usu."

Shizuka looked to see that massive guy with fearsome strength who had thrown her out of campus on the first day she arrived.

"Kabaji?" Shishido exclaimed in bemusement. "You're not even in this block!"

The match resumed with two against two. Shizuka was distracted by the stoic expression on that guy's, Kabaji's face. Not having seen him in action before, she couldn't help but worry about the extent of his skill.

Kabaji got the ball.

"Shizuka!" Shishido notified her of an opponent-bound pass.

Kabaji held the ball before his chest.

What? Such a basic pass-

-Even though she had thrown herself in front of the ball's trajectory, it was knocked out of her hands. She fell, sliding backwards a few good meters.

What…?

She watched, dazed, as Atobe made a slam dunk with ease.

"H-hey, you alright…?" Shishido asked worriedly down at her.

Ouch. Her chin hurt where the ball had made an impact, and her wrists stung. She rotated them carefully.

What power.

"Oi, Kabaji!" Shishido looked just a little peeved. "Do you realize you're playing against a girl?"

"Ahn?" That condescending tone came from Atobe, who crossed his arms as he came over. "It was she herself who took up the challenge," he drawled, his taunting blue eyes pinning her to the spot. "Are you complaining now that it is more than you can handle?"

…It was almost impossible not to read between those lines.

Flipping her ponytail back, Shizuka stood.

She answered him with a small, defiant smirk.

"Ho…?"

The match resumed with a tied score.

"-Hmph. Ore-sama will admit your perseverance-"

Urk, Shizuka thought. Not good. With the addition of another member on his team-

"-But, to think you are any match for Ore-sama-!"

The gymnasium was filled with cheers of his name.

Playing up to their expectations, the King of Hyoutei ended the match with a spectacular double clutch. "-It is a hundred years too early for you-!"

They lost.

It wasn't until then, when the bell rang, signaling the end of the half-day of school for Saturday, did she realize how long they've been playing.

"Hey." Her partner for the match tapped her on the shoulder. Shishido was as out of breath as she was.

"Sorry," Shizuka told him, trying to catch her breath. "I held you back."

"No." Shishido offered her a supportive smile. "Good game."

Which reminded her…

It was good sportsmanship to thank the opponents for a match.

The two of them went up together. Shizuka held out her hand. "For the match, thank you."

Atobe had his arms crossed before his chest, and from his height he was looking down at her both literally and figuratively. An arrogant toss of his head. "Hmph. Hardly a challenge worth my time." He turned to leave, ignoring her outstretched hand. "Kabaji!" he snapped as Shizuka was about to shake the taller guy's hand instead.

"Oi! Oi, Atobe!" Shishido went after him angrily, the three of them disappearing into the boys' changing room.

…

Shizuka loosened her ponytail. Crap, her shoulders were sore.

"Can you believe her?" "Wow, all that effort just to try to shake his hand."

…She gritted her teeth grimly at the gossiping that was meant to be overheard by her.

…

Being the enemy of the King means:

You simply don't win.