K – Premium Short Story Collection
Chapter 3
Flower Gazing by Suzuki Suzu
From the Scepter 4 grounds, a row of sakura trees could be seen. The view was nothing short of magnificient when the sakura trees, planted on the outer perimeter as if to encircle the headquarters, blossomed out into flowers all at once.
The Scepter 4 members had no time to pay attention to the scenery during the intense everyday training sessions, but on their days off they did look around and couldn’t help heaving a sigh at how breath-takingly beautiful the view was.
There were 6 men clad in blue, sitted in a circle on a blue sheet, surrounded by all that blooming sakura. All but one looked ill at ease and strongly irritated. Their eyes were bloodshot, as if in testament to the fact that at the moment they couldn’t see, much less enjoy the elegant scenery around, as they, one after another, extended a hand to rummage in the box put in the center of the sheet. Each of the five drew one of the wooden sticks from the box and checked it. Every single one ended up with disappointment painted all over his face.
The last one, regarding the expressions of the other five calmly, put his hand into the box. Taking out a wooden lot, he checked it quietly and gave a faint smile. His smile was that of a man accustomed to dominate those around. Yes, it was a smile of a ruler.
With that thin smile still playing on his lips, the man - The Blue King Munakata Reishi - announced with a deep resonant voice, “Who is the king?”
You, who else…?! The five other men around him - in other words, the members of the Scepter 4 troops, namely Enomoto Tatsuya, Fuse Daiki, Gotou Ren, Hidaka Akira and Fushimi Saruhiko - bit their lips at the same time, sharing one thought.
As if he read their minds, Munakata revealed his lot. Its end had a red mark on it. The mark symbolized the king of this gathering - in other words, the wooden stick with it was the sword of Damocles in regards to this First Big Flower Gazing Party of Scepter 4.
“Seems like I am the king yet again. Well then, what should I order this time…?” Munakata put his hand to his chin, considering. Throwing sidelong glances at the man, a king both in game and reality, the gloomy Hidaka Akira thought back to how it all came to this.
***
“Aah… Some flower gazing would sure be nice”. It was Hidaka who first voiced the idea, gazing at the row of sakura trees encircling the premises.
Enomoto, Fuse and Gotou all looked at him at the same time.
The four of them were friends belonging to squad 4 of the sword-armed mobile division of Scepter 4. They all happened to be off duty on the same day, so at the moment they were discussing what to do later that day while gazing at the sakura. That was what started it all.
“What? You wanna drink? But you already had your fair share yesterday, no?” Fuse asked.
“Mhuhu… no, Fuse. Hidaka wants to ‘flower gaze’; there’s a slight difference”, Gotou replied.
“Ah yeah. Now that you mentioned it, I haven’t done any flower gazing in ages”, Enomoto pitched in.
Hidaka nodded. “Yeah. And what I propose is not simple flower gazing”.
“Meaning?”
“I suggest we invite some girls from the general affairs and hold the First Big Flower Gazing Party of Scepter 4! Simply put, it will also be something like a mixer!”
“Ah, agreed, girls from the general affairs are nice. Especially the one with spectacles, you know?”
“Mhehe. You mean Yoshino-san, doncha”.
“That’s what I’m talking about! I’m sure, even in Scepter 4 there’re tons of people who hope for something like this! Till now we were too busy with work to think about love, but you gotta experience everything! I bet not all the women of Scepter 4 are cold ice queens like lieutenant Awashima!”
“I can’t imagine Awashima-san doing something like mixers…”
“She won’t come anyway even if we invite her”.
“I actually wonder about that. In my opinion, that depends”.
“On what?”
“Well, for example, if captain Munakata attends…” Their imagination helpfully provided them with an image of the Blue King, Munakata Reishi, gazing at flowers while drinking customary sake, and all four of them burst into laughter simultaneously.
“Bhahahaha! No way! Not happening!!!”
“h.e.l.l would freeze over sooner than captain would attend a drinking party!”
“Hey, hey, don’t joke like that, Gotou! The Blue King playing King game? I mean, whaaat?!”
Hidaka’s words provoked a new burst of laughter. Under the canopy of sakura trees, the four laughted heartily, holding their sides, until…
“I see”.
The instance that voise resounded, the four froze all at once. They turned to the owner of the voice with a movement so stiff that one would not be surprised to hear the grinding sound of a rusty mechanism coming from their joints.
A man clad in blue, whose voice made such an impression on them, was standing under the blooming sakura. Everything about him, from his tall slim stature to the thin smile playing on his lips, was overflowing with perfectly natural dignity and composure. The spring sunlight reflected off his gla.s.ses as he slowly approached the four friends.
“Indeed… Now that I think about it, I do not remember ever doing flower gazing. Nor have I ever played what you referred to as King game. So you may be right, Hidaka-kun”. With this, The Blue King, Munakata Reishi, put a hand on the shoulder of the completely frozen Hidaka. “One has got to experience everything. So, how about we do the things you described right now?”
Those were the circ.u.mstances surrounding the start of the First Big Flower Gazing Party of Scepter 4.
***
“…Whatever, I don’t give a d.a.m.n, that’s not where the problem lies anyway. What you morons do is up to you and none of my concern. The problem here is why the h.e.l.l did I have to get dragged into your mess…?!”
Needless to say that the one grumbling this under his breath angrily was Fushimi Saruhiko. While in the new recruits squad, due to his prodigious talent, he had quickly risen to a position ranking directly below lieutenant Awashima’s. One might wonder how he ended up attending this flower gazing party. The truth is, he just happened to pa.s.s by and was spotted by Munakata. That is to say, he was simply unlucky.
Hidaka whispered back, “Well… saying this to me is kind of useless, you know…”
“You were the one who suggested this in the first place…! Hurry up, become the king and put an end to this ridiculous game already…!”
“I would if I could…! Besides, Fushimi-san, would you yourself please hurry up and draw the winning lot…!”
Fushimi and Hidaka kept bickering in hushed whispers, and they had a very good reason for it. Under the premise of flower gazing, the six partic.i.p.ants kept playing King game for what felt like hours, and all that time none of them - with the one and only exception of Munakata - managed to become the king.
“Oh. It seems like it is I again”.
Yes, no luck for them this time either. Even though the lots were drawn randomly, the wooden stick with the red mark on it, symbolizing the king, magically ended up in Munakata’s hand all the time. So far, it had been ten times in a row. They didn’t know how it was possible, but as things stood, this was the outcome that kept repeating time and time again. Munakata cheating was inconceivable, which left only one possibility: what they were witnessing was a live demonstration of favorable luck the real-life kings possessed.
Munakata had already gotten into the way of smoothly giving out orders. “Now then, number five and number three. Hmm… As far as I remember, the door to the general affairs file room doesn’t fit into the frame properly, so I would like you to fix it until next week”.
Fuse and Enomoto’s faces fell. Apparently, they were the ones to draw numbers five and three. Not being able to voice even a single objection, they could only hung their heads under the Blue King’s calm gaze and express their consent, “Understood…”
There was only one way to stop this nightmare, and that was for one of them to become the king and declare this so-called flower gazing party over, but so far, none of them was able to accomplish that.
“…Th-This… This is no King game. It’s Tyrant game…!” Enomoto mumbled, his hands clenched into fists and shaking uncontrollably.
It seemed his remark reached the ears of Munakata who was about to announce "Who is the king?’ for the 11th time but stopped, raising one brow and staring at Enomoto. “Enomoto-kun, you are saying some interesting things… that this is no King game?”
“…Y-Yes! Th-This is no King game!” Maybe he had some very strong conviction about King game, but Enomoto actually voiced a protest to Munakata, stiffly raising his head to look at the Blue King.
Wow, the eyes of all three other members of squad 4 and even Fushimi opened wide in surprise. There was hardly anyone among the troops who would dare to defy Munakata to his face.
“Hm”. Munakata, however, didn’t seem to realize that he was being defied. He withdrew his hand from the box with the lots, returning it to rest on his knee, and asked seriously, “Then, what is the real King game, in your opinion? Could you please explain it to me?”
“It should be obvious! King game is, well, you know, how should I put it… funnier and cosier, and it provides a perfectly legitimate chance to flirt with cute girls! It just won’t do if this game doesn’t make your heart pound sweetly! It’s absolutely not this, this… this one-sided pushing of ch.o.r.es onto people by their superior!”
Nicely said, Eno…! Hidaka was nearly moved to tears. That’s right. You’re absolutely right. One person ending up the king ten times in a row is not the problem. But the lack of cute girls and all the orders being ch.o.r.es is! When there’re girls among the players, the king, no matter who it might be, will give the others orders like, "Numbers one and three, play the pocky game’, "Numbers two and four, hug each other’ and similar, and that’s sure to make your heart beat faster…!
Munakata blinked a couple of times, and said quietly, “…In short, the problem is the lack of females? Well then, shall I ask Awashima-kun to j–”
“Please do not, I am begging you! Anything but that!!!” The members of squad 4 cried out in unison. As to Fushimi, he, having apparently resigned himself to the worst and abandoned all hope, immersed himself into fiddling with his PDA, staring at it with the eyes of dead fish.
Just then, Fuse made a gingerly suggestion, “…Um, ah, captain. It cannot be helped that there are no girls with us this time, but could you please at least stop giving out ch.o.r.es…? Because, um… that is the reason why this game feels more like a punishment game than anything…”
Possibly feeling somewhat self-conscious due to not being familiar with the full particulars of King game, Munakata nodded with a serious look on his face, “I understand. I will keep that in mind in the next round. Now then, who is the king?”
Silently praying, Enomoto, Fuse, Gotou and Hidaka chanced to look at the lots in their hands. All the lots were white. They turned to Fushimi, but he only shook his head faintly, his eyes still deadened.
“It is I again, huh. Well… number three, put on the nose gla.s.ses”.
“?!” All the present felt tension running along their spines.
The nose gla.s.ses. We shall omit the detailed explanation as to why such a thing was in a place like that. Let us just say that it was among Gotou’s possessions, and Munakata, being a sharply attentive man, had spotted it about five minutes earlier.
Meanwhile, Munakata shifted his gaze to Enomoto and smiled, “…This is what you meant, is it not, Enomoto-kun?”
Enomoto nodded, relief flooding his features, “Yes, yes, exactly. It’s a party game, so the players are supposed to have fun”.
“I see. I think I was able to grasp its essence to a certain degree. Well then, who has number three?” Munakata surveyed all the present until his gaze stopped at a certain one.
A blue aura was rising off Fushimi Saruhiko - the blue energy that the members of military divisions of Scepter 4 called upon when in battle. Releasing it in a place like that was uncalled for, but it stood to show just how badly Fushimi was irritated.
However, Munakata, with a deepening smile, simply quietly presented him the nose gla.s.ses. “It is your number, is it not, Fushimi-kun. Here, please put these on”.
“………………” After a long deadly silence, Fushimi took off his own gla.s.ses, replacing them with the nose ones.
“Gfhu!” The one who couldn’t contain his laughter was Gotou. He knew it could end badly for him, so he pressed a hand to his mouth tightly, leaning his head down, shoulders shaking. Even his ears turned bright red.
Stop it! Hidaka screamed in his mind as he desperately bit the inside of his cheeks to supress the laughter threatening to burst out. Winding up on the receiving end of Fushimi-san’s grudge is the last thing I need! I’m sure he’ll put me through h.e.l.l if I ever get on his bad side!
“They suit you, Fushimi-kun”.
“………………Next”.
“Hm?”
“Next round. Let’s move on to the next round, quickly”. Fushimi’s blue aura flickered. Even the gla.s.ses with a huge false nose attached to them were tinged with his killing intent, twinkling maliciously.
Munakata sensed it, washing over him like a gentle breeze, as he took the box with the lots. “I’m happy to see you so full of enthusiasm, Fushimi-kun. Well then… Oh?” Mukakata made a surprised face, staring at the lot he had drawn.
The light of hope flared up in the souls of the squad 4 members. One by one, they drew the lots. Fushimi, still glowing with blue light, was the last one to put his hand into the box, and when he retracted it… a huge grin, threatening to split his face in two, appeared on his lips. “I’m the king”.
Oh s.h.i.t, Hidaka thought as his instincts sounded the alarm. They were going to put an end to this nightmare if one of them became the king - only it didn’t look like this kind of thought still survived in Fushimi’s head.
Fushimi took his time staring at Munakata with a snake-like gaze, before finally saying, “Number one, put on the nose gla.s.ses”.
Munakata shrugged his shoulders and showed the others his lot without prompting. It had “1” written on it.
Fushimi took off the nose gla.s.ses, smirking widely all the while.
“Hm…” Munakata’s shoulders moved with a sigh as he took off his own gla.s.ses, putting on the nose ones, when…
“Captain?” A commanding voice came.
It belonged to none other than the Scepter 4 lieutenant, Awashima Seri. Back straight, she bowed respectfully to the king under whom she served and briefly stated her business. “I apologize for interrupting you when you are busy, but it’s about the regular report from the Nanakamado precinct…”
“Oh, it is already time for it. Thank you for reminding me. Now, you will have to excuse me…”
“…………What… were you… doing…?”
They wanted to stop him, but it was too late, and Munakata had already stood up and turned around to Awashima… with the big coily lensed gla.s.ses, complete with a false red nose and black moustage, still sitting on his face.
Munakata smiled sweetly at his subordinate’s question. “We were playing King game. Would you like to try it, too?”
Upon hearing her superior’s answer, Awashima smiled at her subordinates just as sweetly. “… All of you. You are going to explain to me in minute detail what this all is about, aren’t you?”
Enomoto, Fuse, Gotou, Hidaka and Fushimi dropped their eyes in unison.