A/N: This chapter is written solely for the sake of good laugh (well, the first 95% of it is at least), so don't expect any emotional lessons or these kinds of stuff.

Cure Narrative 21: The Game of King

Season(s): Heartcatch, Kirakira a la Mode

Character(s): same as last chapter

Summary: The title is self-explanatory.

"Psst, Ichika," Aoi whispered, "Are you asleep?"

"Nope," came Ichika's voice.

"I don't think anyone is asleep now," Tsubomi whispered back, "True?"

"True," replies sounded all over the room.

"I don't want to sleep anymore," Erika whined, "Let's play games!"

"What do you have in mind?" Rio asked from the other side of the room ('cause he and Olivier are boys! There needs to be some distance, right?)

"How about the typical truth or dare?" Itsuki suggested.

"Truth or dare is getting old, let's do something more thrilling!" Erika went to switch on the lights, letting everyone see her mischievous grin.

"I don't like how this is going..." Olivier muttered.

"Let's play the Game of King!" Erika exclaimed.

All except Aoi and Ichika looked dumbfounded. "What is this King Game?" Himari questioned.

"Okay, we have 9 people, so I'll going find a piece of paper and cut it into 9 pieces, then I'll write 1-8 on them and draw a crown on the remaining one. After that, we'll have to shuffle them and each of us take one randomly. The person who has the crown will be the king, and they can order any number or numbers to do anything, but they won't know which number is whose. See? Simple!"

"It's like Truth or Dare but only Dares," Ichika added.

"Okay, I don't like this either..." Himari uttered a not audible whisper.

"Sounds fun!" Ciel said, and everyone except Olivier and Himari agreed with her.

Erika clapped her hands, "Yeah! Now we can start if I have a paper..."

"Who's the king~~"

"Yeah! I'm the King!" Itsuki exclaimed as she unfolded her paper, "Now, 3 and 5..."

"EHHHHHH?!" Himari screamed.

Aoi pulled a facepalm, "Himari! You're not supposed to let the King know who you are!"

"Oh, sorry," Himari peeped, "I'll try to suppress my shock next time."

"Let's shuffle the ballots again," Ichika said, "Sorry, Itsuki."

"Who's the King~~"

"Ah, I'm the King," Tsubomi said, "Let's see... how about number 8 and number 2 help braid number 5's hair?"

"I'm 2," Aoi said.

"I'm 8," Olivier said.

"Who's 5?" Erika pondered.

By then, judging by Rio's traumatized face, they knew who.

"Sorry, Rio-kun..." Tsubomi peeped.

But they didn't have a choice, so five minutes later, Rio was starring twin braids (one side braided way more neatly than the other ;P).

"We have got to take a photo and show it to the SHS tomorrow!" Ichika laughed.

"No! Don't you dare!"

"Sorry, already taken..."

"ICHIKA!"

"Alright, alright," Ciel interjected, "Come on, let's move on to the next round."

"Who's the King~~"

"I'm the King! Mwhahahahahahaha!" Erika exclaimed as she held the floor lamp as a scepter taller then herself, "Number 3, I command thee to go downstairs to the dinning room, pick a few fake flowers out of the vase, and put them in number 1's hair."

Ciel turned into Kirarin and winked, "Easy peasy-kira." She was about to fly out, but she suddenly remembered, "Umm... who's 1?"

Seeing Rio's face again, they all got it.

"Oh. My. Gosh!" Kirarin's eyes sparkled more than usual, "Thank you, Erika-kira! I've always wanted to do this-kira!"

With that, she flew out like an arrow.

"Everyone! Get your phone cameras ready!" Aoi laughed.

A few minutes later, there was a daisy on each of his braids and a chrysanthemum on top of his head.

"We need to let Yuri-san and the others see this tomorrow! It's too good!" Itsuki giggled.

"Ugh! Let's just move on to the next round!" Rio groaned.

"Who's the King~~"

"Eh? Does this means I'm King?" Himari pointed at the crown on her paper.

"Yes, you are the King."

"Okay... I want... maybe... number 5 to do an impression of one of their parents."

"Simple!" Olivier threw his ballot away and lounged on the floor, he said in a mocking voice, "Loup-Garou, help me get a cup of coffee. Why of course I can get it by myself, but I'm too lazy to. Be a good boy and help your dear daddy get a drink."

"That's not hard to imagine," Tsubomi chuckled.

"Enough of this, next round," Ichika said.

"Who's the King~~"

"Yes! I got to be King!" Aoi beamed, "I want number 6 to sing everything they want to say in opera style for the rest of the game!"

"Whyyyyyyyy meeeeeeee?" Ichika laughed and sang at the same time, which sounded utterly ridiculous.

"Who's the King~~"

"Ah! I'm the King again," Himari said, "Let me think... Okay, number 4 and number 8 have to waltz."

"I'm number 4," Tsubomi said.

"Who's 8?" Ciel inquired.

Itsuki suddenly walked to Olivier and put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry." Then she walked to Tsubomi and took her into waltz steps.

"What? Huh?" Olivier stuttered.

"Oh boy..." Aoi said.

"Yeah, right? This is beautiful!" Ichika added.

Meanwhile, Tsubomi was blushing furiously.

"I think her old crush is returning, heheh," Erika giggled slyly.

"Who's the King~~"

"I am the King, yes!" Ichika cheered, "Okay, number 1 look number 4 in the eye and tell them they're cute."

And so...

"You are... are... um... I can't say it...!" Himari blushed and cover her face.

"You can do this, Himarin!" Ichika said, "Just tell Itsuki she looks cute, it's not that hard, is it?"

"Maybe we should make it easier for Himari?" Rio pointed out, then he found Aoi, Ichika and Erika looking back at him with sparkling eyes, "What...?"

A few minutes later, Itsuki ended up with a miniskirt and a few ribbon hair clips randomly attached to her short hair.

"I look preposterous," Itsuki complained, tugging at the miniskirt in vain hopes of lengthening it.

"Go on, say it, Himari," Aoi encouraged.

"You look... cute!" Himari blurted out and went hiding in a corner of the room.

"She's a squirrel, no doubt," Ciel laughed.

"Who's the King~~"

"Finally! I'm the King!" Rio yelled, "Number 7 do an impression of Yukari-san!"

Erika put down her ballot and flipped her hair, "Look at me, I'm the intelligent and gorgeous Kotozume Yukari, ohoho."

Rio recorded the whole process and snickered, "Yukari volcano will definitely erupt tomorrow!"

Meanwhile, Ichika whispered to Ciel, "Do you think Erika mimicking Yukari-san feels a bit off?"

Ciel shrugged, "Maybe it's the height difference?"

"Who's the King~~"

"I'm the King again!" Erika roared.

"Oh no! The horror!" Rio screamed in a mocking voice.

"Number 3 and number 1... no, 2! Heheheh... someone get a box of Pocky, they're playing the Pocky game!"

And so, Tsubomi and Olivier ended up on either side of a Pocky...

"Ready? Start!"

Olivier reached the center of the Pocky in one bite, backed away and tried to pull up his scarf which wasn't there, all before Tsubomi realized what was happening.

Everyone except the couple "Awww"ed in disappointment.

"I gotta make my command more direct next time," Erika muttered under her breath.

"Who's the King~~"

"Je suis le roi!" Ciel exclaimed, "Since you've started down on the cheesy path, I order number 7 to princess carry number 1."

"Ehhh?" Himari yelled.

"Don't worry, Himari," Aoi walked up to her, "I've never princess carry anyone before, but I'm confident that I won't drop you."

With that, she lifted Himari off the ground, "You know, you're heavier than you look, but you're still pretty light."

And Himari went beet red.

"Who's the King~~"

"Yes! I'm King again!" Ichika shouted, "Ciel, your command wasn't cheesy at all! Let me show you... um... number 7 and number 2, look passionately into each other's eyes, fingers laced, for 30 seconds!"

"Let's get this over with, who's number 2?" Erika asked.

"Me," Olivier replied, casting an annoyed glance at Erika.

"Alright, 30 seconds timer, go!"

The scene wasn't the one Ichika had in mind, mostly because although Erika was already very short, she still had to look down. And that made everyone laugh.

"You will pay for this, Ichika!" Olivier snarled.

"Haha, try your best, midget," Ichika teased.

Suddenly, Aoi pointed at Ichika, "You weren't singing! And for such a long time too! You didn't follow my order!"

Ichika froze from laughing.

"Okay, the next King can do whatever they want with Ichika, without the number."

"Nooooooo!" Ichika pleaded, "Ao-chan!"

"That's the rule, Ichika!"

Ichika pouted, "You're so cruel..."

"Who's the King~~"

"I am the King once again!" Erika retrieved her floor lamp 'scepter' and laughed evilly.

"Oh boy! The tyrant has returned!" Itsuki exclaimed in mock terror.

"Let's see... my command... Ichika and number 5 have to..." Erika suddenly glimpsed Rio tensing up, and she chortled inwardly, "Ichika and number 5 have to kiss! On the lips!"

Rio's face reddened, and everyone fangirl screamed.

"Erika, isn't this a bit too far though?" Tsubomi said.

"I think this is goooooood," Erika drawled, "Don't you wanna witness this, Tsubomi?"

"Well... I do wanna see..."

"I c-can't..." Rio spoke.

"Too bad, the King's orders are absolute," Olivier said, though his sentence was more giggles than words at this point, "Just go kiss the girl!" He pushed Rio towards Ichika.

The proximity alone was making Rio's words turn into stammers, "Uh... well... I... um..."

"R...Rio-kun... um..."

Suddenly, the room door was slammed open as the SHS stepped inside.

"Okay, what is going on in here?" Yuri asked in her interrogation voice.

"What's the commotion? You guys woke us up," Akira used her palm to rub her eyes.

"Yukari-san, Akira-san, Yuri-san, you need to come see this!" Aoi called to them.

"What is so urgent?"

"Long story short," Ciel said, "We were playing this thing that's called the Game of King and Ichika broke the rule once and now she and Pikario has to kiss!"

"This sounds interesting," Yukari covered her mouth and laughed as she already walked further into the room.

"I'm glad I didn't wear my glasses," Yuri's face flushed up as she turned around to not see anything.

"Oh, suit yourself Yuri-san, you're totally missing out!" Erika yelled, "What about you, Akira-san?"

"Y-yeah... I uh..." it seemed that Akira was quite sensitive to this kind of thing too, "I can see well enough over here, s-so no thank you."

Erika shrugged and went back to chanting "Kiss her! Kiss her!" with everyone else.

Rio looked at Ichika, and though she was blushing, she nodded. So he put his hand on her cheek so that they were facing each other while Ichika tentatively started to tiptoe.

"Kyaaaaa!" Everyone fangirl squealed again, and that was how Akira and Yuri both knew what happened without actually seeing it.

To the couple, this wasn't the perfect romantic setting for their first kiss, but to them, all the gasps and smirks and fangirling didn't exist. To them, this sufficed, more than sufficed.

End of Chapter 21