"She's a model too?! This only gets better."
—Mukahi Gakuto

The Empress | Chapter 25

When Mukahi, Marui, and Jiro gathered around the table with snacks laid out, their topic of discussion was a certain beauty.

"She was super awesome!" Jiro, her secret fan, exclaimed. The always-sleepy male remembered the way she utilized the strength she had to return a move that would take three of her.

Marui nodded; he, too, was impressed by her. "Yeah, Bio-Magnetism Smith called it." but he was afraid of the darkness that sounded her.

"I wonder if that's hers too. She returned it with another Bio-Magnetism." Mukahi added.

With a thoughtful look, Marui was thinking of that too. Her tennis style was definitely a lot more violent than he thought was possible. So was Smith's.

"Ah!" Jiro's sudden exclamation brought the other two's attention to him. He walked over to his bed and pulled a magazine from under the pillow, "Tachibana-chan had this with her." he sat back down and showed the others the cover.

"Wow," Marui's cheeks turned slightly red as he stared at the beauty in the cover.

Mukahi was blushing too; it's one thing to see a famous person in print knowing you'll never meet them while it's another knowing that you know the person that's currently wearing exposed but elegant tennis attire on the front cover of TeenTennis.

"Let's open it," Jiro said with excitement. And immediately he went to page 10, which is supposed to contain 'Frei Fuyuki's most recent modeling picture just released under FREI Corp label'.

If they were blushing at the cover then they were definitely close to nosebleed with the featured pictures.

The first page was on the beauty wearing a white sweater-like long-sleeved off-the-shoulders top. It had black lining on the hands and went all the way up to the sleeves that practically engulfed her slim fingers, almost all the way to her deep red nails. On the white top, it said 'FREI' in white with red squaring around the text. And under the sweater top was a fishnet material that wrapped around her collar but bare for the skin between her where her collar bone net her shoulders. As their eyes trailed further down, she was wearing the shortest-looking black shorts that hugged her hips and thighs while wrapping around her upper stomach like a belt. To finish off the look, there was a purple messenger bag with black lining over her shoulder.

They noticed her pose was that of a shy but cunning young lady as she glanced at the camera with a knowing-look with slim fingers resting just below her luscious red lips. Her other hand rested over her left thigh in a modest matter, as if she was covering her too-short shorts.

On the next page, she wore a similar black material under her maroon with an off-white lining long-sleeved shirt with yellow buttons. The black material hugged her chest and the outline of her breast showed due to the top couple buttons being unbuttoned. The maroon shirt had also slipped off in one shoulder, showing some pale skin. Paring with the shirt, was a tight black leather pencil skirt that stopped just above mid-thigh. This time she wore simple jewelry consisting of large silver hoop earrings and held a leather clutch.

Her pose was truly that of a model with one shoulder leaned further back than the other, head tilted back ever so slight, legs crossed one over the another, and one hand holding the bottom of the clutch while the other the top of it.

The third picture was cooler styled. She wore the same material around her collar and underneath the top, only this time it was green while the off-the-shoulder sweater-like top was beige and shorter—almost crop-top like. The skin exposed was more prominent due to the contrast of colors. This time, the top was paired with tight high-waisted black jeans showing the gap between her slim thighs. She wore black studded earrings and applied maroon lipstick. Her nails were painted black. This time, she wore dark-pink-tinted sunglasses as she gazed at the camera while tilting the sunglasses down ever so slightly.

She had two fingers around her sunglass while the other was inside her jean pocket. The beauty seems to give each of the pictures their own personalities and they only got better.

The fourth picture was very different from the other three; this one was way more revealing than the others. She looked like a temptress. With her long hair separated into two sections, two black hair ties were holding each section of the hair couple of centimeters from each other. The loose strands in the front framed her small face as a butterfly decorative clip was placed delicately on the right side of her head. It was long on one side and shorter on the other, ruffled in purple and white materials in the shorter side and long and trailing on the longer side. The top of the dress was strapless and exposed a lot of cleavages, her breast covered by small white material while the rest of the dress turned purple and white under the bust down with a large flower just under her left breast with smaller flowers trailing down. She wore a simple black choker with a light purple pendant and similar earrings. The outfit also had matching short gloves and stockings.

She held out her left hand for a purple butterfly to land on while other butterflies surrounded her as if to show their affection. Her right hand rested on her right shoulder but from the front angling of the camera, it looked like she was resting her hand on her right breast.

If the three thought the first three pictures were amazing, they were flustered and confused. The beauty was exposing so much skin that they were speechless trying to take everything in.

On the other side of the rooms, Smith was humming softly as he flipped through his own collection of Fuyuki's magazine that he had collected over the years. He always carried them with him. Hopefully, Fuyuki would sign them for him.

"Shut up, Louis." Wilson was annoyed by the goofy smile the other male had, along with the annoyingly happy humming and light blush. Wilson had seen Smith's collection before but it didn't interest him till now. After meeting the beauty, he decided she was worth at least some of his attention. Though-

He was surprised to see his captain and Miyazaki also going through Smith's collection.

Pausing then smirking, Smith asked, "Jealous?"

Wilson was tempted to smack the smirk right off.

An was scrambling through her bags.

She couldn't find it.

She couldn't find her copy of TeenTennis. An really wanted Fuyuki to sign it now that they were temporary roommates. There's no way she would get another chance. Feeling hopeless, she slumped against her bed.

"What's wrong?"

"!"

The beauty's flawless face hovered over hers.

Right. They were roommates now.

"I-I just lost something." There's no way she could confess that she lost a copy of the magazine featuring the beauty. Not yet at least.

"Does An-chan want Yuki to help look?"

'Ah, she's an angel.'

An smiled and shook her head with tinted cheeks because the beauty doesn't seem to wear many clothes before bed, "It's okay. I'm sure I'll find it soon."

Then, she remembered pulling it out and placing the magazine on the dining table. Narrowing her eyes, she thought about the middle-schoolers that looked a little too interested in her magazine.

"Here I go, Shishido-san!"

"Bring it on, Chotaro!"

Kikumaru woke up to his two roommates tossing a pillow at the other.

"There!"

Kikumaru was immediately excited, "Wait, you two!" he stood up and grabbed his own pillow. "That pillow fight looks fun! Let me join you!"

"Don't, Eiji. You'll send dust flying everywhere." Oishi looked at his cat-like friend from his desk with an exasperated expression.

"But I didn't get to join in the last pillow fight." he complained, "I missed all the fun!"

"Didn't you hear them? Training will be even more brutal to-" he was cut off by a pillow flying right past his head.

"Let's see which of us is the real Golden Pair!" Shishido, who threw the pillow, smirked.

Oishi gritted his teeth, "So that's it..." Kikumaru grinned knowing they got his partner, "I can't turn down a challenge."

"You saw the ghost of a deserter?" Hiyoshi asked in surprise.

"Yeah, a ghost! It's true!"

Hiyoshi leaned forward in anticipation, "So, you said a warding incantation?"

"Yeah! 'Skip Skip Iguana Bang!'"

"What kind of cheap incantation is that?" Zaizen asked, disbelieving.

"No, really! Apparently this area used to be a battlefield!" Kirihara gripped his fist in front of his chest.

"I can't believe that scares you." Zaizen rested his palm on his cheek as he laid sideways."Right, Kaid-"

The male was surprised to see the snake-like middle-schooler trembling in fear.

'Kaidoh's terrified.' Zaizen grinned with a devious expression, 'Now I've got something to blog about.'

"Wait," Hiyoshi tapped a finger to his chin in thought, "This place is a battlefield with ghosts of deserters. I read about this in a book."

"Right?"

"Skip Skip Iguana Bang." Hoyoshi repeated, "So it was true..."

"But the incantation didn't work!" Kirihara continued. "It suddenly floated out of..."

Kaidoh suddenly stood up from his bed.

"What's wrong, Kaidoh?"

The male put his hands in his pockets as he walked out of the room, "I gotta use the bathroom!"

Zaizen took a picture on his phone as he watched the retreating male. "He's scared. That is hilarious." he grinned.

"Synchronization?" Shishido was shocked to see the pair in sync mode, "They're using that now? That's a rare doubles miracle that only occurs in desperate situations!" He watched as Kiki and Oishi's orbs turned yellow with black lining and white aura surrounded their forms.

"Shishido-san, I'm scared!" Chotaru said with a frightened expression.

"I'm not scared." Kaido shook his head as he walked the long hallway."There's no deserter here!"

Shishido spun his pillow with a battle cry, "Ultimate technique!" the pillow began to rip as he tossed it towards Kiki and Oishi, who in return, dodged.

The pillow slammed their door open with pillow beans spilling everywhere.

Kaido gasped in fear just outside their room before struggling to run with beans under his feet. His struggle was in vain as he kept slipping while trying to stand upright. But then, a pillow came rushing to land of his face, tossing him against the hallway walls.

Once the male somewhat recovered, he gritted his teeth in anger and tossed the pillow at Chotaru, taking the male down.

"Damn it, Kaidoh!" Shishido yelled on behalf of his partner."What are you doing?!"

His loud scream brought the other players' attention as the walls were thin.

Shishido slammed a pillow Kaidoh's way but the male caught it against his chest and tossed it right back in anger, "Don't scare me!"

Oshitari Kenya slept in peace with a light snore.

"What the heck?" Oshitari Yushi watched him while hovering before looking at his other two roommates. "You guys go to sleep early."

Hearing the noise outside, The conscious Oshitari opened the door to the hall. Realizing he stepped on something, he picked it up to inspect. "Buckwheat husks (sobagara)..." Then he noticed the little beans were everwhere in the hallway.

"Aren't you guys taking this a bit far?"

Some unconscious middle-schoolers were laying in weird poses with a frightened look on their faces while a group of middle-schoolers was arguing over them.

"No way! You guys were first!"

Oishitari slowly stepped back into his room and closed the door.

"Ahn?! You're making too much noise, fools!" Atobe glared at everyone while standing in his black robe.

Kabaji walked through the halls dodging pillows while carrying a tray of tea and snacks.

"Kabaji, make them be quiet," Atobe ordered with hands on his hips, Bt was surprised to see the quiet giant walked past him.

"Kabaji?" he gasped in shock while watching the taller male walk to his room and shutting the door.

"Good work, Kabaji." Niou, who was impersonating the self-proclaimed king said just behind the door, "Puri."

Room 214 was crossed out and over it read 'Niou Kingdom'.

Atobe's mouth opened in horror.

"What is this plant called?" Yukimura asked.

"Monkshood. It's poisonous." Shiraishi answered.

They were looking at a potted plant that looked somewhat like violet flowers with green leaves.

"Poisonous, huh?" his eyes were closed in a smile with a finger under his chin, "Does it take away the five senses?" he asked with interest.

"More than just that."

Fuji chuckled before looking at the daisies by the window, "Yukimura, your daisies are beautiful as well."

"They're tough against environmental changes."

"Fuji-kun, your cactus looks like it'll bloom soon," Shiraishi said, looking at the large cactus.

Fuji nodded.

Yukimura picked out his potted daisies, "I'm glad they let us bring plants." he smiled gently looking at the flowers in front of him, "They all wilted while I was in the hospital."

"But now, new life is born again." Fuji smiled.

"Yeah." Shiraishi smiled back. "The next generation takes over."

Yukimura also smiled.

"Aniki!" The door to their room slammed opened and the younger Fuji stepped in, "Another pillow fight is starting! We should take shelte-" A follow slammed against the side of his head and he was down.

"Yuto-kun!" Shiraishi yelled in concern as all three ran towards the fallen male.

The older Fuji picked up the pillow that was used to knock his brother down with a dark shadow over his closed-eyed smile, "I'm going to go for a little workout."

The other two exchanged a look before Yukimura asked, "Need a hand?"

"Was that Jackel-kun?" Shiraishi also stood up and accompanied them.

Fuyuki heard multiple screams from her room. Or rather, their room now. The room looked even smaller now that her bed has been replaced with two bunk beds. Thankfully, she still had room for her vintage mirror and clothes. Of course, she offered the girls her things in case they may need it. She wasn't materialistic—at least she thought so, but in order to look perfect, she needed things.

Deciding to investigate the shouting outside, she pulled a shawl over her bare shoulders and left her room. Even though she previously wanted to stop pretending, she still had a purpose for fooling them.

With a glance at her sleepy but curious roommates, "Yuki will go see, you can rest." she exited the room.

She had been meaning to visit Ryoma anyways.

"I'm not done yet!" Oni yelled as he sent Destruction Tokugawa's way.

'This time... I will win!'

The binding light around the ball was almost blinding as the ball remained on Tokugawa's racket due to the force.

'I will...defeat him!' An image of Hoo's face showed up in his mind,'I will!' Tokugawa finally managed to return the ball.

Kanata watched over the two with his arms crossed.

"They're working hard so late at night." Tanegashima, who was watching a bit farther from Kanata, turned away from the game.

"The team touring abroad?" Sanada repeated.

"This camp's first string." Sasabe said, "They're all stronger than the Court 1 guys. Tomorrow, they're returning from a one-month tour."

With two fingers under his chin, "So the players selected for strengthening..."

"They'll come up with something to test the guys who stayed behind. He said we should make the most of this opportunity." By 'he', Sanada assumed the high-schooler was talking about the coach in the mountains.

Sanada paused, "Make the most of it..."

"Well, I've relayed my message." The male ran off.

Multiple middle-schoolers were hit as the pillow fight proceeded to become violent.

Jackel was down as Yukimura, Shiraishi, and Fuji walked away from his unconscious figure. Along with the freshmen trio, Dan, and Urayama, all of whom got caught in the crossfire.

"I'm getting fired up now!" Kirihara threw another pillow at someone.

"Oraayaa!" Kaido let out a battle cry and slammed his own pillow.

"Not bad, Kaidoh!" The two were back-to-back with another pillow in hand. "You haven't missed once!"

"There's no point in playing if you don't win!" The male responded while dodging.

"I agree!" The two slip off to find their new victim, "We're not done yet!" Kirihara threw his pillow and landed on-

-Fuyuki's stomach.

The beauty was startled as she fell on her butt.

"Kirihara!" There was a disapproval tone in most of the middle-schoolers voices as they rushed over to help the beauty. Only to blush and stutter when they got a closer look at the beauty.

She was barely clothed with tight black lingerie. It looked like a very short strapless dress that tightened around her chest and flowed down and becomes sheer. The top stopped an inch before her black shorts started, showing some pale skin. The shorts were very short but they managed to cover her back and tighten around her hips. She wore a black lace shawl but it wasn't enough to stop the nose bleeds at the pose she landed on.

Her legs fell apart as her bottom came in contact with the floor, her shawl flew away to land beside her and her upper stomach and ribs were exposed due to the pillow forcing the light sheer material to fly upwards. Her hands were beside her hips to support her upper body upright and her silky long hair that was in loose fish braid came slightly undone on one end.

"How mean," a small amount of water lingered in her eyes. Whether it was truly out of pain or get pity, it wasn't clear.

"I-I-I-I didn't mean it!" The Devil turned red at the sight while the beauty closed her legs and took the hand that was offered to her by Atobe.

'Her palms are not as soft as it looks, ahn.' was the self-proclaimed King's first thought. "Do try not to be an animal, Kirihara ahn." The self-proclaimed king smirked at the freshman, still holding the beauty's hand much to her annoyance.

Feeling irked, Kirihara grabbed another pillow and threw it even stronger and-

-it landed on Sanada's face.

After a moment of silence, with his fist clenched, the vice-captain of Rikkai Dai stared at the freshman.

Kirihara gasped in horror then laughed nervously, "Fuku-buchou, good work." 'Why am I so unlucky today?'

"What are you doing?" Sanada asked in a strained voice.

"Um, it wasn't just me!" Kirihara hurried to explain with his arms open and raised in a non-threatening manner. "The others were..." he turned behind him to see the rest. "Wait, what?!" Everyone was gone.

Sanada looked pissed with his eyes closed as he trembled in annoyance, "Y-You are..." his eyes snapped open in anger, "going soft!"

Kirihara sat against the hallway wall in a punishing manner with his hands on his knees and head lowered.

"You won't get away with this!" Sanada said with his hands on his hips, "What do you think this camp is for? Are you celebrating every day because you won?"

Kirihara looked miserable. "No fair..."

"Pillows are for supporting your head when you sleep!"

Zaizen peeked from his room ad snapped some pictures of the two, "Hilarious."

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Edited: Oct 2, 2020