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Chapter 148: Little Princess
Let’s turn back the clock, to a time when I’d just entered kindergarten. In the small playground where all the little kids like me were running about, surrounded by the fluttering descent of cherry blossoms, that was when I first saw her.
Dazzling blonde hair and clear blue eyes. My first impression of her was that she was a living, breathing western doll. Like, she was a character from TV. She felt, out of this world.
“What, are you looking at, nii-san”
Sakura called from the side, looking displeased, trying to catch my attention.
“Hey look, Sakura, isn’t that girl a for-ener? I’ve never seen a real one”
Like maybe an American? That was where the blond haired, blue eyes people came from as far as I could tell, at the time, and I distinctly remember having this rather rude conversation with Sakura at that time.
“… Is this about, Adelhyde-san?”
“Ada… What? Her name’s so long”
“Her full name is Reina Adelhyde Ayase”
I was somehow rather impressed with the concept of this foreigner and her surprisingly long name.
“What, are you curious about that girl, nii-san?”
“Sure am, it’s a real live American right there!”
“I heard she’s actually mixed”
“Oh, you sure know your stuff, Sakura”
“I just, learned it the other day, is all”
Sakura had apparently learned a lot about this Reina Adelhyde Ayase, who was from a different class than us, long before I had any clue. Of course, she stood out due to her unique appearance… But she’d become a topic of gossip for a different reason.
“You, shouldn’t get too close to her”
“Eh, why’s that?”
“Take another look”
When I looked back, I could see her surrounded by lots of kids, they were all talking excitedly.
“She’s really popular!”
“No, see, they’re all boys over there”
When she mentioned it, yes she was. All around Reina, I could only see light blue colored smocks that us boys had to wear. The girls, who wore a similar but pink smock, were looking at the crowd from a slight distance. They looked annoyed.
“How come?”
“Hmm, who knows”
“Isn’t it just a coincidence?”
“I’d hope so―― Anyway nii-san, let’s go back to exploring”
“Oh yeah! Awesome, let’s go, Sakura! I’ll beat any monster that comes our way!”
“Okay, nii-san”
I had fashioned a fallen branch into my awesome sword, and excitedly went onwards in my quest to explore the new in mysterious kindergarten playground.
After that, I’d practically forgotten about Reina. Everyday, I played to my fullest with Sakura and my friends from the Dove section of kindergarteners that we belonged to. So naturally, I wouldn’t have any dealings with kids from another section―― until,
“Uaaaa, aahhhh!!”
At a corner of the playground, I could see some of those same friends from my section crying loudly.
“This here is Reina-chan’s castle, you guys will not be allowed passage!”
The boy speaking in a menacing voice, making my friend cry, he, no, they, as there were a number of them, stood as a wall as they spoke their threats.
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The ‘castle’ that came up referred to the new jungle gym complex they’d finished putting up just that spring. It was the type of stuff you could see in public parks, but this one was themed after a fantasy castle, the very top had a cone shaped roof and ended in a long slide.
Many of the kindergarteners were desperate to get to ride such a fun looking slide, but no one had.
Ever since the castle had been built, one person had dominated the top of the slide. It was Reina.
But strangely, she’d never slid down, always simply sitting there, at the top. And furthermore, no one had attempted to push her aside and use the slide themselves either. As for why, it was because the place was strictly being guarded by the boys in her section. Like knights protecting their princess.
The knights were too strong, too forceful for the other kids. Even the older kids wouldn’t dare approach them.
But a bunch of my friends from class wouldn’t take this oppression anymore. They attempted a raid, but had the tables turned by Reina’s knights.
Team Dove only had a handful of people while the knights seemed to be consisted of practically every boy in their class. They’d been outmatched.
“Stop it you boys! Don’t act so selfish!”
But among my sad, crying friends, one girl shouted out in defiance… It was Sakura. She had a strong heart ever since she was little.
“Sh-Shuddap! This place belongs to Reina-chan!”
“Get out of here you doveys!”
“Get out! Get out!”
Faced against so many boys meanly shouting at her, even the strong-willed Sakura had a strained face, as if she was about to cry any time.
That’s when I’d finally arrived.
My friends were crying, Sakura was about to, and the ones that’d caused this were laughing in a self-satisfied manner, not intending to apologize in the slightest. This was the perfect setup for my sense of justice to spring into action.
“Hey you! Don’t bully Sakura!”
“Nii-san!”
I jumped into the fray, standing in front of Sakura.
“Who the heck are you”
“It’s another dovey”
“Get out! We won’t let you have the slide”
I was becoming angrier as they kept talking selfishly.
“No, I won’t! This place belongs to everyone, it’s not for just you, you’re doing something very bad!”
“Shuddit, this here’s Reina-chan’s castle!”
“That’s right, and we’re gonna protect it!”
“We ain’t letting anyone else on!”
It was childish logic on their part. While they were really obstinate about this, we too had really suffered under that oppression.
I couldn’t forgive their horrible actions. But the one I couldn’t forgive the most, was still sitting at her place at the top of the castle, Reina.
It’s because of her that the boys were acting like this. And those actions were causing everyone else problems. And while all the kindergarteners were thrown into warfare all because of the selfishness of one girl―― Reina, even then, still sat at her spot, looking at a distance, as if the events unfolding below her feet didn’t even register.
Seeing her like that, my unforgiveness for her only grew. Her look that told that she hadn’t a care for the world, reminded me of the cold, calculating bosses of evil organizations in those power ranger shows. She looked just the type to have her many underlings enact her evil.
So I must defeat that egocentric villainess, I thought.
“You damn punk! We told you to get out! Now you’ll pay!”
The loudest yelling boy had finally snapped, he came forward to battle and threw a punch at me.
He made his right hand into a fist, and took a large swing. Yes he was just a child, but this was clearly an act of violence.
However, at this time, I’d already started training with my grandpa, so his feeble punch would be exceedingly easy for me to handle.
“Yeaart!!”
My choice of counter was a tackle. This boy was taller than me, but he was still pre-school age. His head to body ratio was higher than that of an adult, so his balance wouldn’t be as firm. This was one of the chief reasons kids fell down so much.
So versus this kindergartener, I bent my legs to lower my center of gravity and charged him with my shoulder. My tackle wasn’t all that strong, but more than strong enough to take out a small kid.
“Whaaa! Aaaaaa!!”
The boy who was brought down by my tackle started crying. His arms and legs had sustained light bruises. Mere kindergarteners just weren’t tough enough to continue fighting in this sort of condition.
“Oi, what’d you do that for!”
“You made him cry!”
Now furious, well, as furious as little boys can be at least, the other knights were riled up because of their downed comrade. Seeing that the latter was crying in so much pain, they wouldn’t start sending out more to meet the same fate. It was now a tense, wait and see situation.
Trained as I was, even I couldn’t take on more than 10 boys at once. So I made the first move.
“It’s over! Return the slide now, it belongs to everyone!”
I screwed up my courage as there simply was no going back anymore, and took down the boys closest to me. I didn’t punch them. Being so little, my hands would hurt more.
These were just little kids, I just had to make them fall over and they were done for, crying like babies. I finished off 3 of them like this.
“Uwah! This guys, strong!”
“Too, strong”
Their numbers steadily dwindling, the knights started growing nervous. At this point, they were a lot more scared of me than angry. Now, I didn’t need to fear them ganging up.
“Oi, little punk, think you can take us on, huh”
“Kufufu, he’ll be dead meat soon~”
Just then, two new boys emerged from the castle.
One was a big guy, so big, I thought he’d be in grade school already. The other one had a devious face on him, and from his hands, I could hear whistling wind. He was rapidly spinning around, a skip rope.
The biggest kid in school, in addition to a sly kid who’d brought a weapon. But this level of power was tremendous for kids as young as us. I wouldn’t win in a straight fight. I almost started to cry too.
“Nii-san, you can do it! You won’t lose, everyone’s depending on you, so you’ll win for sure!”
There, Sakura’s words knocked the cowardice right out of me. That’s right, this is for my little sister, this is for my friends, I can’t lose here! I childishly felt a sense of esteemed duty.
“You want a fight, I’ll give you a fight!”
“Shaddap, yeer going down!”
That was the big guy. He was a whole head taller than me, and gave off intense pressure as he charged. Size mattered this time. He probably weighed so much that tackling him would get me knocked down instead.
So I waited for him to get as close as possible, he was about to reach in 3 more steps, 2, 1…
“Fuh!”
I’d jump right, which would be a feint, as I side stepped to the left, evading the impending collision. I used the same movement to circle behind him.
“Hah!!”
Before he could turn around, I kicked him on the back of his knee. Targeting that weak spot, I caused the big guy’s knees to bend in.
“Uwaah!?”
His balance ruined, I further landed a full body tackle on his massive back, which resulted in him landing face first onto the ground.
The big guy’s extra loud crying rang in my ears, but I quickly faced the skippy kid.
“Heheh, what’s wrong, scared? Scared, little baby?”
Even with his large friend defeated, skippy kid looked not a bit perturbed. Could be that he trusted that his weapon would do the job, or could just be simple self-confidence.
He was fiercely spinning the thing above his head, which looked to me like he was quite adept at handling this skip rope of terror. He probably made a lot of kids cry using that.
It was still a skip rope though. Unlike a real sickle and chain, it didn’t have the sharp and heavy blade attatched at the end. But if that thing, going at the speeds it was, were to hit me just once, I’d be downed, crying instantly.
I only had once shot at this. His range was so much higher. In this fight, I didn’t need power or speed, but enough courage to close in on him.
“OK!”
Shouting my resolve, I slowly walked towards him. But from his point of view, I must’ve looked scared, hesitant, an easy to aim target.
“You’re going down now!”
The skip rope was extremely fast. The plastic handle was coming at me drawing a large arc. I could see it. I expected him to do this, and I could see his attack.
There! I determined my timing and after quickly ducking down, I raised an arm.
The softer, vinyl rope part of the skip rope caught on my arm, and as it did, the tip changed direction. Almost instantly, half of the rope pivoted around my arm and arced back to its starting location. In other words, towards skippy kid.
“Higyaaaa!!”
The boy cried in pain as his own weapon had been turned against him, hitting him straight on the face. Ouff, that’s gotta hurt, I sympathized, but it really was what he deserved, bringing a dangerous weapon to a fight. He should now understand the dangers that came with attempting to wield a weapon.
“That takes care of that! Anyone else feel like joining them?!”
I yelled out from behind the loudly wailing big guy and skippy kid. No one else came up to the challenge.
I’d defeated all the foes, and thus righteously climbed the castle.
This castle had been occupied since its conception so I hadn’t actually approached it at all. So it actually felt a little fun, climbing the diagonally laid out rope net.
I quickly made it to the top, the place where the big slide started. Though I kept describing it as a castle, it was still a jungle gym designed for little kids, it wasn’t that big at all.
“… Who?”
That was when Reina had first looked my way.
Her clear blue eyes felt like they would suck me in with how pretty they were. I felt love at first sight for an instant, but kept that a secret from Sakura. I still kept it a secret from her.
“Get down from there. Everyone wants to use the slide too”
No matter how cute she was, she was still the evil boss. I firmly told her my demands.
“The slide?”
“Yeah, you’re taking all your time going down it, and everyone’s been waiting ages”
Once Reina slid down this slide, we could finally all begin using it. Sure she was evil, but I wasn’t cruel enough to kick her down from a place this high.
“… No”
“W-why not!”
“I’m scared. It’s so high”
I was surprised. She had closed her eyes and made an expression that she was genuinely scared.
“Why are you even here then”
“It’s nice. The cherry blossoms”
That was when I finally understood. Reina wasn’t actually monopolizing the slide, but simply enjoying the higher view of cherry blossom petals as they danced their way to the ground.
Though in actuality, the place wasn’t all that high. But for pre-school aged children like us, it was surely high enough for us to enjoy a wonderful view.
“Oh… So you didn’t take over the slide, did you?”
“No, I didn’t. What are you talking about”
Which meant, that Reina was only enjoying the view here, while her so-called knights made up their own interpretations, and blocked our paths all this time.
How come no one noticed? Why did it turn out like this?
Reina hadn’t done anything wrong. But all those boys preached how it was ‘for the princess’, making a huge scene, causing problems for everyone, which ended up culminating in this great war.
“Haah… That was stupid… ”
I hadn’t one clue why those boys went so far to claim this as ‘Reina’s castle’. Or at least, the little kid me at the time couldn’t be expected to understand.
But I was stupid too, deeming Reina as their boss only because I saw her sitting at the top of the castle.
“That’s good then, that you’re not a bad guy”
I really was glad. I’d finally realized that Reina was just a kid too, just like us.
I’m sure that because of how different she looked, with her blonde haired, blue eyed, cute looks, that no one saw her true feelings. When in reality, she was no different from my little sister Sakura, just a normal girl.
“Ok, so you won’t mind me using it right?”
“Sure”
Since Reina was only enjoying the view, I was fine to do as I pleased. Once I took the lead and slid down, everyone would know that they can too. That It didn’t matter if Reina was here.
I was about to make my triumphant return, I sat down, positioning myself on the slide.
“… You’re going?”
But I was finding it a bit hard to actually go through with it under Reina’s intense stare.
“Of course”
“You’re not scared?”
“Nope, it’s awesome”
Well, it was better than the one at the park at least. This castle slide was a lot higher, and I was expecting a great deal of fun riding it.
“What, so you DO want to slide down”
“But… It’s so scary”
“You want to though?”
“… Yes”
It appeared that once she saw me getting ready to slide down, she got interested as well. She was free to do it, of course. But it was kind of sad, her climbing all the way here, only to get cold feet
At this point, I just wanted to get this thing over with… But somehow, I just couldn’t bear to leave her alone. She wasn’t bad, she just looked a bit different, but was otherwise, a normal girl. So I could totally become friends with her too.
“Ok, you want to go together?”
“Yes!”
That’s when I first saw Reina’s smile, I was astounded.
She sat in front, while I sat grabbing on behind her. And we took off. As tall and long as this slide was, our journey down ended in moments.
“Hey, what’s your name?”
Once we’d gotten down, Reina looked straight at me as she asked.
Oh yeah, I never told her my name, I realized after all was done and past. It wasn’t fair for me to know her name, but her not knowing mine, I thought in my child-like logic.
So I readily replied.
“I’m Yuuto, Souma Yuuto!”
“Yuuto… Yuu-kun then!”
Reina cheerfully shouted, “Yuu-kun,” as she jump hugged me. The sudden action left me no time to catch her, and losing my balance―― We fell with a bang.
“Oof, A, ahh…”
It need not be said that I cried more fiercely than anyone that day after hitting my head on the edge of the slide. At the end of it all, it was Reina who’d managed to actually defeat me.
Well, that wasn’t very cool of an ending at all… But that was how I first met Reina.