Author's Note: This chapter originally had the lyrics to 'Bravado' by Lorde in it, but I edited them out on 17 December, 2016 (making the chapter a whole lot smaller than it was before. Oh well). It, however, still revolves entirely around the song.

Chapter Nine - Bravado

"Are you sure this is my colour?"

"You look fine, Sire."

"Yeah. You look fine. Like I said, black goes with everything. You could fix your hair though."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"Your hair looks fine, Sire."

"No. You can't look fancy on your torso and lower body but have your hair look like a train wreck. It's such a faux pas. Fix your damn hair."

"On your way, Romeo. Don't stay out too late."

"And maybe buy her flowers or something on your way, Sire. You'll seem more romantic and composed."

"Oh. Okay. Bye, guys."

We wave.

"You think he'll be okay?"

"Get your panties out of a bundle, he'll be fine. It's a high school dance, what could go wrong?"

"Many things have gone wrong since we've been here.. Countless things, actually, so who knows what'll happen tonight? It could be minor, like a kiss, or major, like an attack."

"Ha. Both of those things sound terrible."

And are unlikely to happen.

"Why say that?"

"Well, if Maou were to kiss Chiho,"

I'd be torn to even worse shreds.

"Even if it was only because he was caught in the moment, she'd take it the wrong way, like most teenagers do, which he knows for sure is one giant shit show. And an attack speaks for itself, obviously."

Like I said, unlikely.

"You could at least pretend to be happy for him."

Be happy that he's on a date with someone I can't stand?

Yeah, no. I'm not an idiot.

"Why should I do that?"

"Well, it is his first dance with someone he cares about."

Ha. That's what you think.

I guess you don't pay as much attention to your precious king as you act like you do.

"And?"

"And you should be happy for your king."

"Because he's doing something I don't care about?"

Trust me, I care.
If anything, I care way too much for my own good.

"Hence the word 'pretend', Urushihara."

"Hence? What time are we in, the Victorian era?"

"Don't try to argue with me."

"Whatever."