In all 19 years of her life, Minako had never played the King's Game before.
Soon she will wish she never did.
"Kanji!" The drunken idol screeched. "Get the chopsticks ready!"
The freshman grumbled before getting up, coming back a couple minutes later with chopsticks and a black marker.
"Kanji! Write the numbers on the chopsticks!"
"Sheesh! I'm doin' it already!"
"The King's word is law! Chop-chop!"
Minako sighed. What was she getting herself into?
The chopsticks were being dealt. They were passed around from Yu down to Chie. It finally came to Minako. Her hand was twitching in anticipation. One wrong move and she was over.
She got the chopstick with the number two.
"Whoo!" Teddie jumped from his seat in joy. "Teddie is the King!"
Yeah, they were screwed.
"I, the King, command number three to smooch the King without delay!"
"Gyaaaaaah!" A screech of horror left someone's mouth. Who was it? It was Kanji. Teddie looked at him, then turned his head away.
"I meant number two…."
Minako panicked. "No take-backs!" She screamed.
"Smooch, smoooooooooch!" A drunken Yukiko cheered. As Teddie was also somewhat 'inebriated', he simply shrugged his shoulders and pounced.
"Woah! Ow, quit it! Don't make me flatten you, dammit!"
Poor Kanji.
Only the first round and two contestants have dropped out already. Minako was pretty sure that wasn't how the game worked, but if Rise said so then it was law. It was now on to round two. With Kanji and Teddie incapacitated the pickings were slim, but Minako narrowly escaped humiliation. Miss Chie Satonaka was crowned King during round two. Her victim? Mister Yosuke Hanamura, of course.
"Wa-wait wait wait! This is just-!" Yosuke tried to resist, but it was no use. Chie commanded Yu to hold him down while the girls proceeded to tickle his bare feet. Yosuke giggled, cackled, and eventually screamed. Minako wasn't going to lie. It was really fun.
Minako was having even more fun when she pulled the golden chopstick.
She had the power. But she wouldn't let it get to her head. No sir.
"As the King ….. let's see…. Number five must drop a cup full of ice cubes down their pants! And let them melt there!"
See? Not power hungry at all?
Yu was her unfortunate victim. But the straight-laced teenager took it with a calm face. Even as the freezing ice water trickled down his pants. He didn't even blink. It was actually kind of weird. Like seriously, no reaction at all? This guy was really something. Then again, now that Minako looked at him, his face did look a little flushed. Oh great, he was probably as drunk as the others. And they weren't even drinking alcohol.
The commands escalated as soon as Rise was given the crown. The inebriated idol stood up with as much elegance as she could given her intoxication.
"Pocky game! I command my subjects to play the pocky game! Number six and eight!"
The stakes were high. Minako looked around the table. Each of the players were fully concentrated on their numbers. Finally, Minako looked down at her own. She uncovered the number to reveal …. A six.
Oh. Oh no.
Her eyes darted from her chopstick up to the group. She scanned each of their faces to see who her dreaded partner would be. Chie sighed of relief. Yukiko drunkenly giggled. Yu's face was stone cold as always. Yosuke actually looked somewhat disappointed. But there was one reddened face in the group that was not due to the influence of 'alcohol'.
Naoto Shirogane.
"Th-this is ridiculous!" He resisted. His flustered voice seemed to have gone an octave higher. "I-I have no need to take part in this!"
"The King's word is law!" Rise battled.
"Sh-shut up!" Kanji, who had regained consciousness after Teddie's attack, defended Naoto. "He doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to!"
"C'mon Naoto, it's just a game!" Yukiko slurred. "Or…. Is this your kiss?"
His face reddened even more, as did Kanji's. Naoto lowered his cap over his eyes, as if contemplating. Soon he was done deliberating.
"Alright, fine. Let's just get this over with."
That was not the answer Minako was looking for.
"Wait, are you serious?!" Now Minako was fighting. "B-but we don't even have any pocky…."
"Actually…" Yosuke was hesitant, but he took out a red snack box from his pocket. "I was saving this just in case we had another Mystery Food X….."
Minako didn't notice the dirty looks Chie and Yukiko were giving them. She didn't care. Her head began to spin. Finally, she gave in.
"Aki, please forgive me…"
Somewhere around the world, a silver-haired man sneezed.
The pocky was in place between the two. Minako on the chocolate covered side, Naoto on the other. They stared each other down in trepidation. With such a short distance between them, she couldn't help but notice how feminine his face was. If he was a girl, he'd definitely be a knockout. But Minako pushed these thoughts aside. She ignored her surroundings and just shut her eyes. All she was focusing on was nibbling at the delicious chocolate. She took larger and larger bites until she felt something soft against her lips. These were not Naoto Shirogane's lips. In his place, Minako imagined her beloved Akihiko and their own first kiss. A bit awkward at first, but eventually their bodies began to warm up. Minako became more daring. She draped her arms around his neck and took a more aggressive approach. She pushed her tongue forward into what she assumed to be Akihiko's mouth. Her partner gasped, pulling away and left Minako with her tongue hanging out. Literally.
"And Minako Amada wins the game!" Rise babbled like an idiot. The crowd cheered at the scene. Minako with her tongue still out. Naoto shivering in a corner. And Kanji just stared at them with this huge blush on his face with his hands covering his nether regions.
Yeah. Minako was going to kill someone.
"On to round five!"
She had decided to give up. Screw it, let's just get this over with.
"Who's the King?"
Out of nowhere, Yu reached for a pair for a pair of glasses from his back pocket. That's odd. Minako didn't know he wore glasses. He flaunted his chopstick in the air. Under the influence of the alcohol, Minako supposed, he was acting more and more ….. what's the word? Show-offy? Minako couldn't think of anything better. He found a dart out of thin air and threw it at the dartboard, selecting his next number. They all held their breath.
"Number two."
A scared gasp.
"My lap is yours." Yu announced as he settled himself comfortably in his seat. His victim cowered in embarrassment. Chie was hesitant, but at the urging of Yukiko and Rise, shakily lowered herself onto his lap. She cringed in embarrassment for a full second before jumping off.
"No, no, no!" Yukiko cried. She gathered herself from her seat before plopping onto Yu's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You gotta do it like this!"
"Oooh, ooh! Me next!" Rise took her turn, cuddling herself on his lap. All the while, Yu kept up his taciturn stare. This guy sure was something.
.
"Ahaha, me next! Me!" Yukiko yelled. "I'm the King! Actually, the Queen!"
"You didn't even draw a chopstick!" Yosuke burst her bubble.
But Yukiko ignored him. "Alright, then …. Let's have someone talk about something really embarrassing that they'd never wanna tell anyone!"
They were really just throwing away the rules of the game at this point, huh?
"Hmmm, let's see … Ah! Naoto-kun! I choose you!"
Was she calling out her Pokemon or something?
Yosuke sighed. "Just ignore her, Naoto-kun…."
"No…" Naoto replied, surprising everyone. "No, that won't be necessary."
"….Really?"
"One stipulation, though: If I do this, the rest of you must reveal something as well."
"Okaayyy!" Rise agreed for all of them. Sure. Not like Minako had a say in any of this.
"Well, apart from the …ahem, show earlier…." At the mention of it, both he and Minako blushed. "No other embarrassing experiences come to mind… Would discussing my life be fair game? It's the rare situation like this that gives me call to speak of such things."
"Damn …. Way to kill the mood…"
Naoto told the tale of the Shirogane family that has been full of detectives for generations. They would often lend their powers to the police from time to time. In the days where there was no such thing as crime scene investigators, consulting detectives were considered valuable. His grandfather was also a detective, and taught him everything he knew, despite Naoto's age. As investigators were now well versed in science and medicine, Naoto had to up the ante in his studies to meet up with the standards of a good detective.
"That sounds tough…" Yosuke grimaced. Everyone else nodded their heads in agreement. It didn't seem like Naoto ever allowed himself a chance to have fun with people his own age.
"….."
"…"
"….That's it?" Yosuke asked. "No punch line?"
Naoto blushed a bit. "Ahm… I fear you may be looking to the wrong person for that."
He got that right.
But Yukiko still laughed. "That's sooooo embarrassing! Isn't Naoto-kun embarrassing?"
He really wasn't.
"Well then, it's your turn now. A straight answer, please." Naoto commanded. They all nodded their heads in agreement.
"What is your true involvement with the murder case?"
Minako spit out her drink. But that wasn't the most surprising statement/ question she heard that night.
"Weeeeeeeeell…." Yukiko started. This wasn't going to be good. "We go rescuing people who've been kidnapped by jumping into the TV!"
She choked again. But wait. There was more coming.
"And theeen, we do stuff like 'Persona!' with our Personas and beat the crap outta Shadows…."
At this point, Minako almost believed she had fainted. She was seeing double. Maybe she was the drunk one and imagined this entire conversation.
Naoto sighed. "Are you making fun of me?"
"Ish true!" Rise, who previously in an alcohol-induced coma, jumped from her seat. "Personaaaa!"
And then she fell back asleep.
"…I see now that you had no intention of telling me the truth." Naoto sighed again. Minako thought about it. Maybe … they were lying after all? Maybe they just heard those words from somewhere in their drunken state?
"But I'm curious… How did you become so inebriated? This isn't alcohol."
Bells rang inside Minako's head. Warning bells. Bells that said 'THIS INFORMATION IS YOUR GOLDEN TICKET TO SOLVING THIS CASE'. It couldn't be more clearer than that.
She just couldn't believe it though. To think another group of high school students were in almost the exact position she and her friends were in years prior…. It was unthinkable.
She could only hope they didn't suffer nearly as much loss as she did that year.
.
Wooo! The plot is actually moving! And guess what? I can't promise anything because I'm still working out the timing in the game plot, but I think a certain someone might be making their appearance soon…
I will get on that as soon as I can. If I can squeeze out another chapter by Thursday, then awesome. However, I can't make any promises. And this weekend is AnimeNEXT in NJ soooo… yeah, I'm supr excited to go, so writing's not exactly on my mind. But the week after, I'm pretty much golden!
Thank you for all reviews, views, follows, favorites, and suggestions for the dares! They were all helpful, but special thanks to carminagadeliica, Eirawen28, one of many Guests for I have incorporated your dares. Thank you very much.
Oh and special thanks to Roxas Sandwich just for making me feel good about myself. You called my writing inspirational, which it's not, but you're officially my favorite person on here.
