...
...
When Yuri reached home, after he greeted Ayumu and Azusa, he immediately went up to his room to plot the downfall of his new classmates. No one should treat Prince Yuri Tachibana like shit and live to tell the tale.
Without changing his clothes, the Prince headed into the adjacent room and took out his laptop from his spatial ring. Booting it up, a wicked grin stretched across Yuri's face. On the screen appeared a small chibi-like AI, resembling Kei.
"Riku, we've got work to do." Yuri said to the petite AI that sat atop one of the icons.
"What kind of work?" He responded.
"Just a minute." Yuri then took out Kei after which he pressed a button on the side of his laptop, resembling a CD drive. A completely flat surface appeared, Yuri placing his phone on it. Then instantly, Kei materialized on the screen, where he provoked Riku. A chuckle escaped the Prince's lips seeing both his AI fighting. "Look, I'm going to hack into some cellphones so I need you two to download things like pictures and chat logs quickly, okay?"
Riku and Kei exchanged glances before the former asked, "What are you planning? Blackmail?"
Yuri's face darkened as he grinned. "Even worse."
...
...
The next day, Yuri woke up with a smile.
Looking at his phone, he saw that Kei and Riku completed their tasks efficiently, and all that's left is to execute it. Hopping out of bed, Yuri sat around his desk in the adjacent room, planning out his schemes to the minute detail. Since he was a Prince, he knew of the subtle ways to destroy a person; after all, he's learned from the best—Queen Azusa.
After he was done, he got ready for school and headed downstairs. And due to Ayumu and Takahiko knowing each other, the latter had agreed to carry the boys to school being that he worked in that direction.
So after breakfast, Yuri made his way to Mochizuki's house, humming a tune as he did so. Knocking on the door, Yuri bounced on the spot until the door opened.
"Your Highness, what are you doing here already?" Mochizuki asked. The Japanese teen liked to refer to Yuri as "Prince" or "Your Highness" just for fun.
"Takahiro…" Yuri started with a smile. "…it's such a great day today." He headed to the genkan to take off his street shoes. "It's perfect for destroying someone, don't you think?"
"Excuse me?!" Mochizuki shrieked. "What are you planning you shit?!"
"Language, Takahiro." In all this, Yuri was unperturbed. "I'm just giving some people their just desserts."
Mochizuki gasped. "Please, nothing too brutal."
In reality, Mochizuki wanted Watanabe to get a taste of his own medicine one day as well. He was getting away with too much, and with him being the son of the principal, it doesn't make sense they report his misdeeds.
Yuri smiled innocently. "I'll make absolutely no promises."
…
...
They then headed to Mochizuki's room, whilst waiting on Takahiko (Mochizuki's father) to get ready. Of course, the Prince found something to chat about, Mochizuki sometimes becoming tired of the questions and answers.
"So when are we going back to Akiba?" Yuri asked.
Mochizuki sighed. "I don't know. We have work to do."
"Work? We work?"
He sighed again. "What I mean is that we have school, and after school we have to go to the Dojo." he explained. "Or in this case, maybe a sports club."
Yuri's eyes brightened at the mention of sports. He was truly fascinated with Earth's recreational activities, and to hear that he may end up at a club will be exciting.
"Boys! I'm ready!" Takahiko shouted from the bottom of the stairs.
"We're coming!" The two said, grabbing their bags and bolting down the stairs.
...
...
They reached school in due time, and headed towards the school roof. It's where they usually stay until school started, given that Mochizuki didn't want to leave Yuri alone before school starts.
"What class do we have first?" Yuri asked Mochizuki, taking him out of his thoughts.
"Umm, I believe you have English." Mochizuki replied. "Remember, we don't have the same schedule."
"You don't? That's pretty odd." The young Prince gaped. "I thought everyone would have the same thing at the same time."
"How?! That doesn't make any sense. Why would an entire grade level have the same classes at the same time?"
"I don't know. That's how it was back home."
Mochizuki's eyes widened. "Tell me, what was your school like?" he saw this as an opportunity to learn a little more about the Prince's country. He was greatly fascinated by the world of Magic and mythical creatures, and having someone who was born and raised in such world was a blessing to him.
"Hmm, school is compulsory. That's one." Yuri said. "Second, we have four stages of school so to speak ―Shogakkō, Chuugakkō, Kōtō Gakkō and Daigaku. My school is called Saishi Kōtō Gakkō and it's pretty large. Well, almost every school is massive. Also, it's the umm…" Yuri trailed off, thinking of the right words to use. "…the high school division of Saishi Daigaku or university in your case."
"Oh, we have those schools here as well." But Mochizuki was left confused at the different names that the Prince used. "What's Sho..."
Yuri sighed. He hated having to translate almost everything he said. But he found it odd, that they speak the same language, write using the same kana, but yet, some words have different pronunciations. "Shogakkō is what you guys would refer to as Elementary school, if I'm not mistaken. Chuugakkō would be your middle school and I've already explained what the latter two were."
"Woah, the more you talk, the more I feel like Sekai isn't a parallel to Earth. Even though you're the out-of-character counterpart to my best friend, I find it so hard to believe that Sekai and Earth are technically the same."
Yuri laughed. "Sekai and Earth aren't really the same, if you think about it."
"How can't they be? Both planets have the same people, same countries although the size of the landmasses and the names differ. The only thing different is the existence of Magic. And because of that, you guys don't even have basic recreational activities like we do."
Yuri gasped and drew back at Mochizuki. "How dare you! We do have recreational activities! It may not be extensive and extremely fun like Earth's but we do have our de-stressing methods!"
Mochizuki gave the Prince a blank look. "I'm not talking about de-stressing methods. I'm talking sports. Manga. Anime. Cosplay. Video Games. Your Sekai doesn't even have one of the aforementioned."
Admitting defeat, Yuri folded his arms and huffed. "But at least we can use Magic that you Humans can't."
"Well I'd rather no Magic than a life without my stuff."
"Then does that mean you won't come over to Sekai one day?" The Prince's eyes were beaming with hope, as given these past weeks, he's become quite attached to Mochizuki.
"Why should I? I'm pretty sure that Tacchi will return and you'll go back, right?"
Immediately, the Prince deflated. His countenance shrunk, his eyes lost all the gleam they had earlier. Mochizuki noticed the sudden sag and wondered where he had gone wrong.
"I see." was all that escaped the Prince's lips.
"Your Highness? Is everything —"
Without missing a beat, Yuri quickly changed the subject to hide his hurt. "Anyway, school is divided into roughly three sections ―Magic, Chevalier, Science & Technology." Yuri explained. "Magic and Sci-Tech are self-explanatory; Chevalier is where we learn how to use our weapons and such."
"No they're not. What do you do in these divisions?"
Yuri sighed and rolled his eyes. "Magic, we learn how to control our Mana and magic. We also learn magic creation where we basically create our own magic spells, however, that's for third years and up. For the lower years, they'll only learn the theory but not put it in practice. We learn magic spell recognition and learn how to counter them. That's for when we encounter enemies that use certain magic that isn't in our Kingdom."
"That's cool. So each country has their own set of magic spells?"
"No not really." Yuri denied. "It's just that a country may develop a new spell or something."
"Oh."
"Alright, in Chevalier, we mostly learn how to use weapons and strategize. Each person has a 'weapon class' and Geography as compulsory subjects, and for me, I have Military tactics, military strategies, and tactical formation. Don't ask me about others, I don't know."
"That sounds like a lot. Isn't that too much?"
"Nope! It's actually fun."
"How is school fun?"
"You get to bust people's ass in practical exams; depending on the club you join, you get to create weapons and highly destructive magic spells. And you get to plan sieges on other clubs." Yuri said with an expressive look. "Plus, if your club does well enough, the Military gives us incentives and shit."
"Really?" Mochizuki asked. "But what do you mean by 'weapon class'?"
"There are various weapons that people use to battle. So the school groups them into classes and have a teacher that specializes in that weapon. For me, I'll have Spear class, Akira ―my second older brother, will have Whip and Seiya ―even though he's in Daigaku, has Archery and Staff."
"Why does Seiya have two?"
Yuri blinked at Mochizuki as though he was an idiot. "It's compulsory for Archers to have a close-range secondary weapon. Can't have a glass cannon, now can we? Apart from that, students can learn to use more than one weapon, we aren't restricted, you know?"
"Wow, so you can choose whatever you want to do?"
"Yup! Even though I belong to the Chevalier division, I have classes in Magic and one in Sci-Tech."
"Wow, I'd like to visit your school!" Mochizuki was extremely intrigued. This sounded like something straight out of a manga, and the young Japanese couldn't keep his excitement under control.
Yuri grinned. "It can be arranged."
"How?!"
"I won't tell you." Yuri said with a smile. But of course, there was more to that. The Prince was sure that if he brought Mochizuki over there, his father would lock him up and send away the other Yuri and Mochizuki back to Earth. There's no way he's giving up his freedom just yet.
Plus, if Mochizuki should enter Sekai, Yuri wouldn't want him to experience what happened to Earth's Yuri. He'd have to probably get a Regulator and then again, acquiring one of those would be difficult.
A couple more minutes and the bell rang, signalling the start of the school day. Yuri hummed with delight, as he couldn't wait for his plan to take action.
...
...
After school, Mochizuki decided to take Yuri to the volley club. He had been mulling over it, and thought that with the Prince's superior physique, it was wiser, safer for Yuri to play volleyball instead of doing Martial Arts. One reason, at least in a volleyball match, there is no physical interaction with the opposing side. In a martial arts tournament, there has to be.
And not knowing the Prince well enough, Mochizuki didn't want to take that risk. Who knows? Yuri might snap and maybe murder a student if they pissed him off, a student like Waseda Hayato. He remembered the Prince's reaction when he heard that Tachibana and him were friends, and frankly, having him do volleyball seems like the less catastrophic route.
That said, Yuri was absolutely ecstatic, being that he's watched a few volleyball matches and was pumped up by the intensity of it. He began to whine and complain to Mochizuki about withholding such a thing from him, but when the human glared at him, the Prince kept quiet. Yuri knew that if he were to piss off Mochizuki, then he could kiss visiting Akiba again goodbye.
"So, where do we go now?"
"We're going to crash the volleyball club's practice." Mochizuki said with a chuckle. Since he's taught Yuri the rules and basics of the sport, Mochizuki knew that there was nothing to fear in terms of playing ability. What he worried about was if the silver-haired prince would keep his temper in check.
The two boys made their way quickly to the volleyball gym, and upon opening the gym doors, they saw that the boys were immersed in their practice. Catching the look on the coach's face, Mochizuki didn't want to disrupt them. He seemed like the type to chew anyone's head off at the slightest irritation.
Mochizuki then looked across to Yuri. There's no way he'd make the two meet. That'll just spell disaster.
"So Taka," Yuri then piped up. "Which club are you in?"
"I'm in the Science club." The Japanese deadpanned. "It's quite fun."
"So are we going to visit your club too?" Prince Yuri asked.
Mochizuki grinned. The Prince should know that goes without saying. "Let's go, Your Highness. We'll come back later when they aren't seemingly warming up for a match." He said as they moved off. However, they stopped in their tracks when they stumbled upon a boy behind them.
"Are you interested in volleyball?"
He was a tall youth, almost as tall as the Prince with jet-black hair done in the short sides and back haircut. However, he has a long front fringe which is swept to the left and hangs over his left eye. His eyes are blazing red. While Mochizuki wasn't a part of the volleyball team, he knew the teen that was in front of them. He was a second year and the vice-captain of the team ―Maeda Tae Syun.
He's never spoken to Tae Syun before, but he's heard other students saying that he's cold and distant and all that melancholy loner drama. However, one thing he does know is that Tae Syun has fangirls as well. The black-haired teen was not bad looking, if anything, he was hot.
"Yes we are." Yuri answered in a friendly tone. But Mochizuki knew that he was far from it.
"Oh, well sorry to burst your bubble, but we'll be having a practice match today." The teen replied.
"You'll have to try tomorrow. I can talk to Coach for you if you'd like."
"That's ―" Mochizuki didn't even get to finish his sentence.
"Sure!" Yuri squealed in delight. "You hear that, Takahiro!? We'll get to play tomorrow!"
Tae Syun raised his eyebrows in confusion. He recognized Yuri as the ace of Kanagawa Sohgoh's Karate club, so he wondered what he was doing here. Being a prodigy in karate doesn't mean that one can duplicate that in another sport.
So, he ended up asking, "Why are you here, though?"
"Huh?"
"I know that you're the ace of the karate club, what compelled you to try out volleyball?" Tae Syun never asked as to why he was here in Omori, he figured that he must've transferred.
Yuri shrugged. "I want to try out all the sports at school! I like having fun!"
"I see."
Meanwhile, Mochizuki nearly fainted. Yuri wanted to try out all the sports of the school? That wouldn't work out.
"Maeda! What are you doing?!" a roar from inside the gym took the boys from their little chat. All eyes looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was the coach of the club. He seemed a bit irritated, probably he has been watching them for a while; who knows?
"I'm coming coach." Tae Syun said as he made his way inside. Yuri and Mochizuki followed and this caused many eyebrows to rise.
"What are you two doing here?" the Coach asked.
"They want to try out volleyball, so I told them to return tomorrow." Tae Syun said in a monotone.
The coach looked a bit perplexed. The entire school knows about Tachibana Yuri, the famous prodigious karate practitioner. Hence, the Coach didn't know the reason for the ace to turn up in the volleyball gym.
"You want to try out volleyball?" The Coach asked. "Have you ever played before?"
"Nope!" The Prince replied with a perk.
"I can toss. Put me as setter and I'm fine. Anything else and I'm completely useless." Mochizuki said. He didn't try to evade it, as he knew that the Prince would definitely rope him in one way or the other.
The coach was not amused. While he could pardon Mochizuki, Yuri…not so much. He was already good in karate, why would he suddenly want to take up volleyball, a sport he knows nothing about?
"Are you serious? You can't play the sport?" Tae Syun said in surprise. Even though he was surprised, his voice was calm. "I thought you had some knowledge."
"Of course not. I do karate, remember?" Yuri smiled. The other members were looking on in shock.
The Coach then turned on his heel and said, "We're going to be playing a practice match. If you're interested, you could watch on the sidelines, if not, you're free to leave." Clearly, he didn't want the Prince there. If it's one thing he hated was when students decided to join his club without proper resolve. His boys have sacrificed so much to be where they are now, and frankly, anyone with a half-assed intention doesn't belong in his club.
"Hey coach! Can't you have them show us a little something before we play that match?" A voice rang out from the doors. It was none other than Haku. He was the Captain of the team, but thanks to him breaking two of his fingers, he's been relegated to the bench until they get better. So now, Tae Syun acted as the captain in his stead. "At least with our bench players."
The Captain strolled in and waltzed towards the group with a smile on his face. Satoru was behind him with a huge grin on his face.
The coach relented. He only did so to see what Mochizuki was capable of as the team was lacking in setters. Plus, Mochizuki had height. When he's not setting he could block some spikes while he's at it. But he hadn't expected much from Yuri. In fact, the Coach was rather irritated at Yuri. For him, he's seen his boys sacrifice so much and more for volleyball, so for some to want to join the team because of an half-assed reason it's really irksome. "Fine. Get them a bib."
Satoru quickly got the bibs for the different teams, this time, instead of a regular six-on-six, the Coach decided to do a three-on-three. The team with the yellow bibs were comprised of Mochizuki, Yuri and another player whose bib had on number nine. The other team had Four, Five and Six and wore red bibs.
Mochizuki had decided to let their team serve first in order to let Yuri see how the other team react when a serve was done. Although the Prince has already seen this time and time again, the young Japanese felt that there isn't too much regarding this.
"Remember what we usually do, right?" Mochizuki asked.
"Of course!" Yuri chirped. He was all bright smiles and sparkles making Mochizuki wonder. He knew the Prince to be a tempestuous bastard, violent, unpredictable and vicious. But seeing him now, Mochizuki would almost think that it was his best friend standing beside him. He was too much like Tachibana, and suddenly, the young Japanese felt a pang of pain in his chest. Mochizuki deeply missed Tachibana.
He then turned to another player that wore number nine bib. "I'll set to him throughout this. He's a peculiar one, so you'll have a hard time adjusting to him. So for now, let me deal with it."
"I could care less." Nine grumbled. It seemed as though he wasn't too fond of this set-up.
So, Nine served the ball, sending it rocketing over to the other team's half of the court. However, Five received it well, and judging by his short stature, Mochizuki guessed that he was a libero. Soon, Six tossed the ball to Four who was already running up to do his spike. With his quick reaction, Yuri saw that Four was about to spike, so mimicking what he's seen in the videos and what Takayuki and his friends do, the silver-haired Prince jumped for the block.
The entire gym was amazed.
Yuri was fast enough to reach the other end of the net in such a short space of time. The Coach's eyes narrowed at the Prince, deciding to focus on his actions as of now. Sure, he may not know the technicalities and the rules, but if taught, he could become formidable.
Four spiked the ball, but it grazed Yuri's fingertips, making it easier for Nine to receive it. The ball was propelled into the air, Mochizuki setting himself into position.
"Go!" Mochizuki shouted, indicating to Yuri, but no one knew who he was talking. When Mochizuki tossed the ball, it went up high into the air, and everyone wondered about it. With such a height, it was impossible to spike. The coach even knew it was well over his blockers' reach. However within a flash, Yuri was already at the net, and jumped, his palm connecting perfectly with the ball.
No one moved.
Breaking out in cold sweat, Mochizuki dashed towards the Prince and whispered excitedly, "Why'd you have to be so extra?! Now you've drawn attention to yourself!"
"But, Taka, you gave me that high ball. What was I supposed to do? Wait until it got lower?"
The Japanese face-palmed. He knew that he was to be blamed as well, but still, couldn't the Prince pretend to miss the spike?
"Oi. Oi. Oi." One other player started. "Did you spike the ball above the blockers?" he gasped. "What insane jumping power!"
Haku smirked. "That's why we need you on the team, Tachibana. If you can spike that high, then that means you block anything too."
Hearing that, the Coach's eyes brightened. What a gem to be placed right into his hands! A player who can spike a ball from above the blockers reach. And as Haku stated, if he can spike that high, it means he can block that high as well. Which means, with the Prince on the team, winning the Championship title is a possibility.
"So, does that mean Taka and I are on the team now?"
"Of course!" Haku smiled, slinging an arm over the Prince's shoulder. "Right, Coach?"
"Hold up." Another boy spoke up. He had curly brown hair which looks like a mop on top of his head. His brown eyes were brimming with uncertainty. "You're just going to add someone who knows shit about volleyball to the team like that?" He then looked to Mochizuki. "This one, I can understand. He knows his stuff even though he's good at setting. But that one." He pointed an index at the Prince. "Knows shit! All he can do is jump for the ball when it's given! He doesn't know the rules, he doesn't know the proper techniques, he doesn't ―"
"Alright, we get that. We can see that." Satoru joined in. "But him becoming a part of the team doesn't mean he's going to be playing in matches right away. He's gonna be on the bench, learning the sport until Coach deems him ready to set foot on the court."
But all Yuri could do was look at the boy with intense eyes. He seemed familiar, and the Prince tried his best to wrack his brain to see who he was back in Sekai. Unable to bear it, the Prince asked, "Who are you? Your name?"
Twitching, the boy replied, "Suzuki Yukine."
"Yukine? Suzuki?" He mumbled. It then dawned on him. He was the counterpart to Takahiro's best friend, Yukina. "Yukina!" he shrieked with absolute joy.
"What? My name isn't Yukina! It's Yukine!" The brown haired boy rolled his eyes. Then, calming down, he turned to face the Coach. "But really Coach, this can't be right!"
The Coach ―Hashimoto Ao―sighed for the umpteenth time. His boys, especially Suzuki was quite hard to handle. "As it has been stated before by Sato, he's going to be on the bench until he learns more about the sport."
Prince Yuri nearly flared up. He was not about this life. Sitting on the bench until the Coach deems him fit? What absurdity!
"Excuse me? What do you ―"
As if sensing the oncoming danger, Mochizuki intervened. "That's good!" He turned to Yuri and grinned. "As is customary, players start off on the bench, unless they're some star player from another school that transferred or something."
Deep down, Mochizuki was relieved. The Coach was willing to accept Yuri into the volleyball team, which means that the Prince can focus on this sport instead of doing Martial Arts because God knows, there was a disaster waiting to happen.
"What about me?" He ended up asking. He needed to be apart of this team as well, to keep an eye out for the destructive brat. But also, Mochizuki felt as though he's going to need help. And that, he was worried about. How will the other guys react to knowing that the 'Tachibana Yuri' before them wasn't the one that they've heard about. Instead, this one here was an Alien, from another world ―dimension, per se. And to top it off, he can wield Magic, and is not only physically but mentally stronger than they were.
"Of course. Both of you, training is everyday after school. Bring the appropriate gear." The Coach nodded. He then turned to the rest of his team, "Start warming up, remember we have the practice match."
"Yes Sir!"
So, Mochizuki and Yuri walked towards the wall and not long after, the opposing team had arrived. After everyone was changed and the court was set up, the volleyball match commenced. Strangely to Mochizuki, Yuri was watching with keen attention. His red eyes seemed to glow with a bright crimson, but nothing could have made the boy lose focus.
Whenever the boys did something that he didn't know about (which was almost everything), he'd ask Mochizuki to tell him what those moves were and how they are used. He asked about the different spikes ―cross, straights, and feints. He inquired about the serves ―jump float and such; he asked about almost everything.
Mochizuki answered his questions to the best of his abilities, since this was a sport that he was quite knowledgeable in. His older brother ―Takayuki has always played the sport, so at home; Mochizuki was always used as the setter for his brother's spikes. In times when Takayuki brought home friends, Mochizuki was used as the referee, so he eventually, he ended up learning the rules of the sport as well. In short, Mochizuki was like a volleyball player who never set foot on a court.
"I see!" Yuri was beaming with excitement. He was extremely jittery, eager to head out onto the court. It reminded him of when he first discovered basketball; Yuri had seemed like a baby who had just received a new toy. It was quite adorable.
When the match ended, Omori had emerged the victor. Looking across, Tae Syun saw that the two boys were still there, Yuri looked like he had stars in his eyes. With a sigh, he walked over to them and asked, "How did you like it?" He wasn't one to initiate a conversation, but he'll make an exception just this once. These two were prospective members, members that the team needed.
"Like it? It was fun!" Yuri beamed. Tae Syun stepped back with his hands in front of him, frightened at his expression. "How you slammed the ball into the ground like 'bam!' and how the other guys flew like 'whoosh' and ―"
"He loved it." Mochizuki said as he clasped a hand over his mouth. He then grabbed the Prince by the collar to leave. "We'll come back tomorrow for training. Right now, I've got to get him in the right frame of mind."
"I see."
With that, the two exited the gym, Yuri whining about wanting to stay.
…
…
When two boys left the gym, Yuri turned to Mochizuki, "Taka."
"Hmm?"
"What's the guy's name? The one who talked to us."
"Maeda Tae Syun. He's a second year."
"Tay Suyon? Is he a foreigner?"
"It isn't Su-Yon. It's just S-Yun, if that's better." Mochizuki sighed. But, this was a normal occurrence. Tae Syun's name was misspelled and mispronounced numerous times that the boy himself gave up. "It's spelt T-A-E S-Y-U-N."
"Oh…he is a foreigner."
"I don't know. All we know is that he's adopted. Where he came from prior to that is a mystery."
"But why does the entire school knows that he's adopted?"
Mochizuki sighed. The Prince was extremely inquisitive today. "It's as you said, no one in Japan has that kind of name unless they're mixed or something. So students ask him and well…"
"So he doesn't mind that people know he's adopted? Isn't he teased?"
"Teased!? Pfft!" Mochizuki burst with laughter. "One can only tease Maeda-senpai if you're seeking death!" But, he calmed down to get back on track. "What's with the sudden curiosity?"
"It's just that I've never met a "Maeda Tae-Syun" in my world before. So I was kinda wondering. A lot of the students here and at Sohgoh have familiar faces, and I've yet to see some other members of my club but that's the least."
"That's why you thought he was a foreigner? Makes sense." Mochizuki nodded. "But he has been living in Kanagawa, or so he says, and he's been coming to Omori ever since first year."
"Mah," Yuri shrugged. "Let's just leave it be. They say curiosity kills the cat, some mysteries are best left unsolved."
"That's right."
The two then finally reached the science block and climbed the stairs to Mochizuki's clubroom.