Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
Author's Notes: This story is a complete make-up with no, absolutely no relevant details to the real world.
Chapter 4 -part 1: The Royals
11.15am Tokyo, Japan
Hotel Royale – Japan, Spy Academy, Basement 5 Atrium, Somewhere
"Oh my god," Sakuno whispered, her eyes never leaving the great white cat pacing before her.
The leopard didn't pounce but Sakuno was too shocked to realize that. She cautiously took a step back and grabbed something, anything from the desk behind her. Her hand closes about something cylindrical and she gripped it tightly about the weapon.
Calming herself down, Sakuno then realized that the leopard didn't make her lunch; neither has it seemed that it has the intention to. But the idea slipped off her brain pretty soon when it suddenly issued another loud growl. Frightened and taken by surprise, Sakuno uttered a little scream and flung her weapon in the direction of the white cat. But the weapon, a glass pen holder, was grabbed before it could hit and hurt the white beast.
A black blur had rolled in between the cat and the girl and as quick as lightning, made to grab of the glass before it inflicts any harm.
Sakuno stared at surprise at the boy, whom is no older than her, standing confidently, back-facing the leopard. He doesn't seem to realize that all the beast need to do was to incline its head, open its mouth and bite and he would…
"That is rather uncalled for," the boy said coldly.
The boy had very familiar shade of hair colour, greenish black hair. He had on a shirt of the academy, long pants and a loosely tied tie hanging from his crumpled shirt. His hair is all messed up, as though he had just woke up from napping in his uniform. He wasn't much taller than Sakuno either, but yet, the way he looks at her, Sakuno felt as small as a dwarf.
As both of them look at each other, it strikes Sakuno how familiar he looks, as though she met before the same face with bright gold eyes…
The boy held up the glass holder and continued speaking, "Tezuka-sempai likes this holder a lot, and you'll be in trouble if he knows you tried to break it on purpose."
Sakuno open her mouth, about to defend herself when the boy nonchalantly cut in.
"And I don't think the King will be please to know that you try to harm Snow," he added coolly, indicating the white leopard which it rubbed its furry face at Ryoma's side, purring contently, much like an over-sized domestic cat.
"That… That leopard is a p–pet?" Sakuno asked unbelievably, watching how the boy stroked the white fur of the leopard's which stretched lazily and lied down on the carpet floor by his feet.
"Her name is Snow," the boy said, "You got to leave. No one other than the Royals should be here; Snow had tried to tell you that. Leave before I had to report your three rules breaking to your Royal-in-charge," he eyed the white strip by her cloak, "which will be Tezuka-sempai himself."
Sakuno interjected, "What about you? Since no one other than the Royals are allowed in, why are you here?"
The boy stared intensely into her eyes before replying slowly, "I am a Royal."
"Oh," Sakuno suck in a quick breathe; she had thought that Royals consist of other students of age like Inui's and Alex's.
"What are you doing here?" a cold frost air cut into Sakuno's thought.
Sakuno jumped, she recognised the crisp voice of Alex who stood, framing by the doorway, staring at the pair of youngsters.
She could as though hear the echo of the following instruction given by Alex no longer than three hours ago:
"I should advise you not wander at places you shouldn't be at, especially any of the Royal's room without express permission or you might just get a heart attack."
Now she knew what the Jack meant, but the fact that she had broken a school rule on her very first day in less than 3 hours wouldn't be a welcoming factor.
"I… I…" Sakuno tried to explain feebly.
"I received a note from the Hotel staff directly from Kikumaru-san, seems that you have neglected your duty as a cook helper again," Alex sounded not very happy.
The boy looked away, his face hardened slightly to show somewhat reluctance.
"The King had barely left for half a day, and the absence doesn't mean that you could do what you wish. There will be punishment as usual, but since taking care of Snow wasn't so hard for you, maybe you could join your mentee with her own duty in the kitchen during your double advance math lesson with Ryuzaki-sensei. But that doesn't mean you don't have to show your face at this time during the next week."
"Hn," was all the boy responded.
"Since you have free time now, you should guide your mentee about. Attend the cultural class with her and teach her to recognise the corridors of the school."
Sakuno gulped, she had thought that in his anger, the Jack had been blind to the presence of her in the forbidden room.
Hold on a second.
'Mentee?' Sakuno considered the word that she had never heard anyone spoken before. If that word meant a person who was guide by a mentor, which will mean…
"Ah! You are the Prince?" Sakuno exclaimed, her finger pointing towards the sulking face of Echizen junior, before she could help herself, again.
11.30am Tokyo, Japan
Hotel Royale – Japan, Spy Academy, Basement 5, Royal's Common Classroom
"Didn't you tell Ryuzaki-san here that you are her mentor?"
"No," was the sullen answer for the young Prince.
"Didn't you recognize her?"
"I did," he answered straight away.
"Then why didn't you inform her then?" the Jack sounded impatient.
"I didn't want to."
'…..' Sakuno thought.
"I shall inform Ryuzaki-sensei and explain to her your absence for the later class. Bring Ryuzaki-san, that is Sakuno-san, to her cultural lesson now," Alex ordered, standing awfully taller than usual.
When the Prince didn't answer, Sakuno swallowed nervously and said, "Then we shall get going then…" She bowed in respect before exiting the dark room with the white leopard left alone with the Jack.
The Prince on the other hand, displayed no outward signs of tiniest sign of respect or courtesy and had walked straight out, looking very much like a defying teenager, although a much younger one.
Through the corridors, the Prince strode large steps, moving so fast that Sakuno had to slowly jog to keep up, which is strange, for the pair had almost the same height…
Trying to keep things friendly, Sakuno asked, "So, does this direction leads to the cultural class?"
No reply.
"So, do you know the teacher for the cultural class? Is he or she nice?"
Still no reply.
"It's the subject hard to study?"
Again it was just complete silence.
Sakuno sighed internally, 'He must think I am a total idiot right now. Oh, how embarrassing! I knew that this would happen with a Pri –'
The prince came to a stop in front of her so suddenly that Sakuno bumped into him directly.
"Oh! I am so sorry, Ryoma-ku – No, I meant, Echizen-sama!"
He merely looked at her with slightly raised eyebrow and said, "You sure talk a lot. Here's your cultural class."
Finished, he stood there, silent as before, gesturing with the power of his eyes that Sakuno should open the door herself.
Sakuno bit back what she wanted to say, 'If you don't like it, and you can always go. There isn't a need to follow the Jack's order.' But then if Alex-sama orders her to do it, she will never go against it. Furthermore, she had seen Alex-sama not in a very friendly mood less than 5 minutes ago. And she got a strong intuition that going against him isn't going to yield in some simple punishment.
Totally confident that the door she's going to open isn't going to be wrong like all the others before, she rapped smartly and only enter when given permission to do so.
Sakuno bowed and greeted the middle aged female teacher, "Sorry that I am late. My name is Ryuzaki Sakuno."
"Ah, Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter," replied the short hair and slender teacher. "You finally came and join this school. Welcome, welcome."
Sakuno took an instant liking to the kind and benevolent teacher. Although the teacher wasn't very tall, she look healthy and strong and her tanned complexion suggest that she's an outdoor person.
"You can call me Maki-sensei, everyone does so," she added. The teacher then realized the silent Royal still standing by the doorway.
"Echizen-san? Why are you here?"
With obvious reluctance, he strode in and mumbled almost inaudibly, "Jack's orders."
Maki-sensei smiled slightly as though she knew that he was punished, but she didn't say anything out loud. Instead she commented, "Having seen you graduated so quickly from my class with flying colours. I trust you to guide your mentee," she gestured to Sakuno, "here, to do as well as you."
After allocating the pair to empty seats side by side, Sakuno begins her very first lesson in Spy Academy about the Andean Civilization.
1pm Tokyo, Japan
Hotel Royale – Japan, Spy Academy, Basement 5, Cafeteria
After an hour long of fulfilling information about the Inca Empire, Sakuno quickly followed Ryoma who promptly left his seat when the bell rings, signalling the end of class. Maki-sensei once again, didn't comment a thing when Ryoma strode pass and out of the classroom even before she utter, "Class dismiss." Apologetically, Sakuno bowed in respect before leaving with her mentor who was beckoning her to follow him quick and fast.
So now, Sakuno ended up with Ryoma in the cafeteria for lunch. She was slightly out of breath, having to jog through the sea of students to keep up with Ryoma. So now, she stood still taking in the overwhelming view of her first time in the cafeteria.
The first thing Sakuno doubted was that whether she was still within school bounds. After all, the dim lighted area with soft soothing background music, the sharp, soft clinking sound of glasses and the murmur of people chatting while dining had rather convinced Sakuno that she was back up in the 8-star hotel.
She took a quick glance to note that the waiter and waitress are all intelligent robots dressed in smart black and white uniform. The tables are laid, restaurant style; decorated, restaurant style and smell, well, also very restaurant style. Each table had red roses in clear vases, white and gold tablecloths and English style cutleries, gleaming in white silver colour.
"Are you going to stand there and stare all day, or are you coming with me?" an irritated and familiar voice jolted Sakuno out of her admiration trance.
Smiling, in spite of the scowl on her mentor's face, Sakuno happily followed the Prince with the thought. 'Inui-sama is right. I would certainly regret it if I haven't came here!'
1.05pm Tokyo, Japan
Hotel Royale – Japan, Spy Academy, Basement 5, Cafeteria, Royal's dining table
Sakuno followed the Prince further into the cafeteria before stopping right in the beginning of the large room.
Sakuno tried hard not to show how surprised and shock she could be, but failed, miserably. A long rectangular table dominated the area, standing slightly taller on a podium with a few steps. It overlooks the entire cafeteria, much alike to the professor's table in Hogwarts, except it was much classier and modern, although it adapted the style of the middle, magnificent seat belonging, obviously, to the headmaster of the school. In this case, the King.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out, or having the Jack and a few other Royals already sitting by their table to recognize that this got to be the Royal's table.
Ryoma, abandoning his mentee, automatically resumed his seat, the short left side of the table. He sat there, looking, for the first time, slightly happier than Sakuno had ever seen.
Sakuno shuffled her feet uncertainly, not knowing what to do. It was obvious to her that her place ought to be down with the rest of the students. However, before joining her class, Sakuno had done what the Jack advised her to, going through the rules. And one clearly states that there are specific seating arrangements within the cafeteria, one should sit accordingly to where he or she is allocated to prevent unneeded problems.
After her short visit here, Sakuno had saw and know that the on each table had a small silver menu stand with the names of the students printed on the top of the food listed in gold cursive letters. However, there got to be at least 20 over tables within the cafeteria, how is Sakuno ever to find out where she should be seated?
The Jack, Alex, frowned slightly when he observed how the Prince merely took his rightful seat without much as a second look at his mentee. Sitting directly next to the empty King's seat, he spoke, "Ryoma, are you inviting your mentee to sit at the Royal's table?"
It was a question, but yet the answer seems obvious with the Jack's tone.
Ryoma stiffened slightly when he was addressed but did not answer.
"Or would you prefer sitting with her at the rightful place?" the Jack asked a second time, towards the silent prince.
By the table, Sakuno recognised Kikumaru-sama from the Hotel earlier, he cracked a smile and look, to Sakuno, forced not to let loose laughter. 'So he is too a Royal,' Sakuno noted to herself silently.
A flash of annoyance crossed Ryoma's face. Nevertheless he stood up and came beside Sakuno.
"I, hereby, formally invite my mentee, Sakuno Ryuzaki, to join the Royal's table for lunch. Your permission, Jack?" Ryoma said, sullenly.
"Granted," Alex nodded, satisfied.
Ryoma showed signs of heading back to his seat but stopped and Sakuno knew why. Alex had raised his eyebrows so ever slightly at his action.
Ryoma glanced towards his mentee beside him, a disgruntled look present on his face. Apparently, the Prince must have thought that Sakuno brought nothing but trouble to him.
In self-defence, Sakuno questioned herself silently, "Why did he ever bother to agree being my mentor if he doesn't want to?"
"Come on, you can sit at the princess's seat. It's empty for now." Ryoma said, gesturing the chair far opposite of his.
Sakuno's eyes followed the direction of his pointing finger. She then sneak a peek behind her where hundreds of people are dining, she gulped and shook her head feverishly. There isn't a need for her to get famous just within her first day here.
Ryoma glared at her annoyingly, "Well, even if the King isn't here, you can't sit there!" He pointed to the majestic chair right in front.
"Can't I just pull another chair and seat next to you?" Sakuno whispered.
Ryoma face didn't waver from the annoyed look from before.
"I'll be quiet, I promised."
Still no difference.
"Please?"
Ryoma gave an hmph before nodding.
"Thank you," Sakuno smiled sweetly.
Ryoma pretended he didn't see that and busied himself by dragging an empty chair and placed it beside his.
Sakuno slid in gratefully, repeating her thanks and she sat, at the corner of the table, between Ryoma and a still empty Royal's seat.
Sakuno badly wanted to ask whose seat does it belongs to, but refrained from doing so, having promised the Prince of her silence.
A male robot rolled into the small spot between Ryoma and her and said, "Today's special, a favourite of the King's, Pasta Roses."
It laid the white plate in front of the Prince and added, "Is this lady joining you for lunch, Prince?"
"Yes, Salt."
Salt turned his head towards Sakuno and continued in his robotic droned voice, "Would you like to have the same dish as the Royals, Ryuzaki Sakuno-san?"
Sakuno gasped in surprise and asked, "You know my name?"
"Every student in the academy has a database of your information. It includes your birthplace, your life history, your family history and the latest photo of you," Salt answered.
Sakuno gaped.
"So, would you like pasta roses or something else from the menu?"
"Um," Sakuno gazed the plate of art in front of her mentor. The pasta had been folded artistically into a rose with the tomato sauce decorating the folded sides of the pasta giving the rose a tinge of red, bringing life out of a simple Italian dish.
There is no way she could eat an artwork.
"Yes?" Salt asked.
"Um," Sakuno hesitated.
"Just get her the same as mine," her mentor interjected.
"Understood, your dish will arrive a moment later," Salt said, "And I will bring a set of cutlery for you shortly. We thank you for your patience."
While Salt rolled off to get the necessary, Ryoma gave Sakuno a disapproving glance before starting to eat his lunch.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Royals arrived, and the seat next to Sakuno was occupied with a tall, strong looking young man with a boyish grin. His purple eyes danced when Sakuno greeted him, introducing herself.
"Ah, I know who you are," the unknown Knight said.
"You do?" Sakuno asked, curious. Why do everyone seems to know her?
"Yeah," the Knight answered readily with a cheerful tone, "Don't you remember me?"
Sakuno tried her best to recall if she saw the face in front of her before. She shook her head in denial.
"Don't you remember me when you open the guys changing room by mistake on basement 8?" he asked loudly.
Sakuno, who had taken a bite of her pasta rose, choked on the bit she was chewing. Ryoma on the other hand, who had taken no interest in their conversation, gave a snicker when he heard the following incident. Kikumaru-sama, sitting beside the said man, spit out the water he had just drunk. The rest of the Royals merely gave a bemused glance towards the small girl sitting by the corner.
"There, there, have a glass of water," the Knight beside Sakuno offered her, with a concerned expression on his face.
Sakuno accepted the drink gratefully and defensively protested when her lungs were fully functional, "I didn't mean to! I got lost."
The Knight chuckled and said, "I knew that. It was rather obvious." He dug into his share of lunch rather enthusiastically and swallowed one of the roses within one gulp. Good naturedly, he mumbled audibly through his full mouth, "By the way, my name is Takeshi Momoshiro. But you can call me Momo-sama, Momoshiro-sama is just too long."
Privately, Sakuno would prefer the later. 'Momo-sama' sounds more like a girl's name. Nevertheless she nodded in agreement and continue her lunch while the two friendly Royal Knights, Kikumaru-sama and Momo-sama who were rather keen in engaging her in conversation.
2pm Tokyo, Japan
Hotel Royale – Japan, Spy Academy, Basement 5, Cafeteria, Royal's dining table
"Ah, Ryuzaki-sensei even expects so much from her students when she was teaching maths in normal high schools," Momo-sama nodded in understanding while Sakuno explained her grandmother strict teaching.
Kikumaru-sama on the other hand sighed dejectedly as he added, "Ryuzaki-sensei is so going to kill me to see me still stuck in 2nd level of calculus class."
The cafeteria had emptied considerably with the Royal's still left by their dining table. By the time Sakuno had finally finished her pasta roses, Momo-sama had finished his third serving of the same dish and also the ice cold dessert, Italian Ice.
Salt rolled over and kept away the dishes and asked, "Any dessert for you, Ryuzaki Sakuno-san?"
"Oh no, and thank you." Sakuno answered, smiling. It is hard to take Salt as an emotionless robot waiter.
As Salt rolled off on its four wheels, Prince Ryoma cut in and said, "Your maths class starts in another half hour, where do you want to go?"
"Um, where? I don't know." Sakuno answered.
"Most of the students have half an hour of free time off either from before or after lunch, or even both. The free time is often used by students to catch up their studies, workout or spent some stress free time by using the facilities provided in the school," Momo-sama recite.
"Oh," Sakuno said, understanding.
Kikumaru-sama cut in, "Little one must never had taught you anything."
To help Ryoma, Sakuno protested, "Oh no, there wasn't much time when I had cultural lesson just now."
The Jack seems to think otherwise, "There will always be time if he is willing."
Ryoma narrowed his eyes in annoyance towards his mentee as though speaking non-verbally, 'I didn't ask you for help, not that you succeed anyway.'
Kikumaru-sama stood up and stretch, "Come on, we still got half an hour. We can head to the classroom first and help little one to tutor Ryuzaki-sensei granddaughter."
2.05pm, Tokyo, Japan
Hotel Royale – Japan, Spy Academy, Basement 5, Outside Royal's Common Classroom
Sakuno gulped nervously as she stood rooted outside the classroom of the Royal's.
Momo-sama, the last one to enter the room, held the door open now, glanced quizzically toward the newest student and asked, "Aren't you coming in?"
Sakuno gave her senior an awkward grimace and said, "I am not supposed to, furthermore there is a leopard in there."
Her face paled at the thought of being lunch for the white beast.
Momo-sama however, gave no signs of fear as he laughed out loud and heartily, "Come on! First of all you had permission from the Royals; second, Snow has been tamed since she was no more than 1 week old, she's friendlier than a dog."
Although not entirely convinced, Sakuno allowed the elder Royal to guide her gently into the Royal's classroom where everyone had already sat at their own desk.
With the name board present, Sakuno is now able to distinguish and recognized each individual Royal Knights.
Other than Ryoma who was young and of the same height and age as her, the other Royals are pretty much older, more mature and look, more Royal-like. Unlike Ryoma own state of messy uniform, the others wore than own uniform in much less wrinkled state than the prince.
Snow hadn't left the classroom yet, she now lie contently at the empty King's table. When Sakuno enter, she opens an eye lazily, sniffing the air at the scent of an unfamiliar stranger before standing up almost immediately.
Reflexively, Sakuno took a step back hurriedly, her previous fear returning at the cat's action. But her effort is well wasted when the feline merely prance towards Alex, allowing herself to be pet.
"Maybe we should begin by introducing the rest of the Knights that Ryuzaki-san is still unfamiliar with." Alex said, his long fingers stroking with practice motions along the back of Snow's head. The feline purred as though understanding and agreeing the Jack's speech.
On cue, Knight Tezuka stood up and started the chain of introduction.
"My name is Tezuka Kunimitsu. I am the leader over the Diamond group and also the head of the Knights. My royal gemstone given by the King is Aquamarine, meaning courage. I hereby welcome you to Spy Academy on behalf of the Knights, Ryuzaki Sakuno-san."
"My name is Fuji Shusuke, the second leader of Diamond Group. My gemstone is Sapphire, meaning Sincerity."
"Kikumaru Eiji and I, Oishi Shuichiro, are the leaders over the Hearts group. Eiji's gemstone is Turquoise, meaning success; my bestowed gemstone is Opal, meaning hope."
"You met me, Inui Sadaharu. My partner will be Kaidoh Kaoru. The Clover group are under us. My gemstone is Amethyst, meaning balance."
Kaidoh-sama added in, "My gemstone given is Emerald. It meant loyalty."
"And of course we are the last pair," Momo-sama said loudly, "the leaders over the Spade Group with my senior, Kawamura Takashi. My gemstone is pearl, meaning faithfulness."
"Last but not least, my gemstone is Topaz, meaning constancy," Kawamura-sama finished.
Sakuno nodded and bowed with respect to each Knight, before asking finally, "What about Echizen-sama? Which gem was bestowed to him?"
"Ruby," the prince answered her question directly, "It represents integrity."
"Now that you know everyone, we should start teaching you the ways of the school. The rulebook is detailed in every manner," Oishi-sama started.
"But there are too many words, and the words are so SMALL!" Kikumaru-sama cut in. Sakuno privately agreed, recalling the minute typing of report she promised to go through today.
"Actually there is a simple way to understand all of them," Inui-sama pushes his glasses up his nose.
"It is basically and mostly have something to do with the 12 meanings of the gemstones of Royals," Kawamura-sama taught this time.
"The top three virtues are integrity, loyalty and faithfulness. Any rule breaking that involved of breaking these three merits will result in harsh punishment, the worst of the worst," Momo-sama warned.
The lesson continued on for the half an hour, with Sakuno mostly listening to the on-going lecture of advices from the Royals.
4pm, Tokyo, Japan
Hotel Royale – Japan, Spy Academy, Basement 5, Weaponry Training Hall 4
Being in her new school close to 7 hours hadn't been as bad as Sakuno thought it would be. At least not until 3.30pm arrived.
After the Royal's kind intention of teaching, she was dragged, although not physically, to her first ever algebra lesson with her grandmother. No favouritism was shown as she tried her best to catch up with the rest of the class on what will the value of 'a' be if [a + ab – b = 16].
The Prince wasn't helping either; he was sitting beside her, making lots of unhelpful sounds at her inaccurate answers.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," was his most pleasant comment from him.
At 3pm, she gladly left the suffering math lesson to arrive at her worst feared class ever, the weaponry lesson.
While the rest of the class practice engaging combat with fencing sword, she spent the horrible half hour so far learning how to hold the sword and swing it properly so that she would not twist her pitiful wrist.
The teacher, this time a male, said that she was lucky, for her mentor, Echizen junior, is a natural and one of the best fencers in the academy. Yet, as Sakuno blocked the oncoming merciless swing but basic swing from the Prince, Ryoma did not give any signs of relenting. Although each blow had not increased in strength or depth of skill, neither was it light or easy for total beginners.
"You got to spread your legs apart to give more balance," the Prince repeated for the fifth time, with impatience at the edge of his unchanging tone of voice.
Once again, Sakuno heeded his advice but soon her legs sprang together with fear at the oncoming swing of the Prince's personal fencing sword.
"AHH!" Sakuno screamed, softly.
This time, she managed to block the attack successfully.
"Well, at least you got that move mastered," Echizen junior said, retiring from the practice.
'What? No praise or whatsoever?' Sakuno thought. Tired, sweaty and dirty, she stomped after her mentor for some well-deserved rest.
While the pair of 12 year old sat at the corner of the training hall of weaponries, surprisingly, the prince automatically strikes a conversation. However, much to Sakuno's disappointment, it was all more of his resenting complaints about her less than impressive body stamina.
"Haven't Ryuzaki-sensei even trained you herself personally? Judging by today's performance, it's hard to imagine that you are related to her," the Prince stated unkindly, his tone sounded unnaturally harsh.
Sakuno bit her lips back for a retort, her eyes watering dangerously close to bursting tears at the unfair judgement.
"And how many times do I have to repeat to spread your legs apart?" Ryoma continued, without noticing his fast crumbling mentee. He shifted to his right, away from Sakuno and sighed heavily, "When I promise the King to be a mentor, I didn't expect Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter to be this weak." he mumbled.
Reaching her limit of tolerance, Sakuno jumped right up, towering over the sitting Prince, and shouted angrily, "That's right. Blame it all on me. All because I am stupid, idiot, weakling and a complete total loser! Do you think I want to be here? You think I loved standing there waving a weapon that I never thought that I need to use?" With that she threw her training fencing sword onto the ground and rushed out of the training hall and ran.
On and on she ran, both of her hands covering her face. Until she reached a total deserted corner of the stairs then she completely stopped, hid herself in a corner and cried really hard.
She cried about the Prince's lack of seniority warmth. She cried about her own lack of stamina. She cried about how Echizen Ryoma was right, she had no characteristics or talent resemblance to her strong grandmother. She cried about the truth of the family's secret, the truth of her parents' death and the truth of her identity. And finally she cried about how alone she is, within a humungous school that doesn't seem to have a place where she belongs to.
How long she hid in that corner Sakuno had no idea. All she knew was that after crying for an utterly long time, she continued to stay in her dark spot. She felt rather safe at the moment, wishing to delay the time of meeting the undeniable truth of her fate.
8pm, Tokyo, Japan
Hotel Royale – Japan, Spy Academy, Basement 5, Royal's Office, Jack
For the second time of the day, another twelve year old sat opposite the vice principal of Spy Academy, aka, the Jack.
However, this time, a familiar boy was seen instead of a newcomer.
Alex, different to the previous meeting with Sakuno, wore outfit similar to his junior, only decking in his own white shirt and the official school black pants. The expression on Alex's face was different too, and it bore no good will at all.
"What do you have to say for yourself?" he asked the Prince.
Ryoma silently sat for a while before answering, "Nothing."
Alex leaned back on his executive chair and repeat, "Nothing?"
The Prince nodded before adding, "This time, I admit that I was in the wrong."
Alex, satisfied, said, "So you are totally prepared for your punishment."
Echizen junior resignedly nodded his head.
Alex leaned forward, returning back to his business-like manner, "For the following month, all your classes, duties, missions and privileges as a Royal would be postponed and cut off. You will spend one month as a regular student under Knight Tezuka and Knight Fuji, and as a classmate and tutor to your mentee. Your timetable will be mirrored exactly to those of Ryuzaki-san's and I expect you to almost be her shadow. Do you understand?"
Ryoma took in a deep breath and nod.
"You will leave behind your badge on this table and return the Royal Cloak. You will only retrieve them after completing your assigned punishment, that is – by the next month."
The Prince placed his owl badge, with rubies encrusted as the eyes, onto the desk. "I'll bring the cloak later."
"A temporary place will be arranged for you as your dormitory and please remember that you are from now on, barred from entering another Royal's rooms, including the classroom on Basement 5. Any questions?"
Ryoma shook his head.
"You may leave now," Alex said.
Dismissed, Ryoma stood up and bowed before proceeding to leave the Royal's Office.
Just before the door of the Jack's room closes, Alex said to him, "Let's hope that this punishment would give you a wake -up call on how Ryuzaki-san is feeling right now, Prince Ryoma."
A halo of knights stood outside the Jack's room, silent as they watched the punished Prince leaving the Royal's Office. Besides the King, no one would dare to plead or go against the Jack. However just as much as they felt sympathy for their young junior, most agree that he was out of line this time. The news of Sakuno's outburst on her mentor had spread almost like wild fire through the school.
After Ryoma departure, Kikumaru-sama was the first to speak, "Ah-ah. I felt so sorry for little one just now."
"I guess he got too used being a Royal," Momo-sama added thoughtfully.
"Then he let his guard down. An action that is undesirable for a spy," Tezuka-sama spoke coldly.
The Jack joined the group of knights and said, "Let's hope that this punishment will bring more good than harm then."
He sighed, tired. He spoke to Kaidoh-sama, "Have you spoken to Osakada-san regarding Ryuzaki-san plight?"
Kaidoh-sama nodded and said, "Just a while ago after her own waitress duty in the Hotel. She should find Ryuzaki-san by now."
The Jack nodded, relieved, "Osakada-san will know what to do." He retreated back into his office before pausing and add meaningfully, "Kaidoh, continue to closely monitor Osakada-san progress through this month, the King has high expectations for that girl."