To the Victor Belong the Spoils

[JimBobRedneck]

Many thanks to those that offered their time to proofread this for me. I hope everyone enjoys this debut and I would love to hear any thoughts. Without further ado:

To the Victor Belong the Spoils

After what has to have been the most boring lecture since I’ve been here, I’m finally set free by the ringing of the lunch bell; never before have I been so happy to hear such a simple sound. I flex my hand a few times to help loosen up the muscles, tired and cramped from having to take so many notes. Misha being out sick has proven to be more of a pain than I thought it would. Well, at least I’m getting a free lunch out of the deal. As I think of said lunch, my stomach protests its current empty state and urges me to hurry, so I pack my things in my bag and head for the student council room.

It takes me a few minutes to make my way through the crowd of students, all eager to enjoy their lunches and free moments, but I soon arrive at the familiar door and head inside. Noticing the door open, Shizune looks up at me from what I guess to be classwork. My heart sinks a little because now I won’t be able to see her rather cute reaction to being startled when I sneak up on her. Of course, that also means I won’t have to deal with the annoyed glare that comes afterwards, so I guess I break even. I sign a clumsy “Good morning” to her, which earns me a sigh followed by her slowly signing it back to me several times in a row.

“Such a perfectionist,” I mumble to myself. This earns me another sigh as she taps her pen on the pad of paper sitting in front of her.

After setting my bag down, I take out the notes I took in class and hand them to Shizune. She looks at them with disappointment while I pull a pen from my bag, write on the pad and slide it to her.

I said “Please forgive me for not remembering exactly how to sign something I just learned. I promise to live up to your expectations one day.”

As expected, my flippant answer is returned with one of the same annoyed glares that I had just a few moments earlier been glad to avoid. Oh well. Frustrating her has become almost a game for me, and it is one of the few things I’m routinely able to beat her at.

Lying is unbecoming. Besides, after seeing how poor your handwriting can be, I have little hope for your signing in the future.

She holds up the notes I gave her earlier. I must react a little more to her jab at me than I think, as she now sports a rather satisfied grin. Damn, I may have to give her a point.

If my notes aren’t good enough, I can just take them back.

I reach for the notes she’s holding as I slide the pad back to her, but she’s too quick and pulls them away from my grasp. She places them in her bag and gives me an innocent smile.

Misha and I are very grateful to you for taking these notes while she is in bed sick. That’s why I promised to reward you for it.

The mention of the promised reward once again causes my stomach to audibly beg to be filled. Damn Kenji and his ramblings for making me so late this morning that I had to skip breakfast to get to class on time. As if my short, internal rant were a cue, she reaches down and pulls out two containers from a bag on the floor, placing one in front of each of us. The sweet smell of the food contained inside tempts me to forget about being civilized, but I resist and simply dig in like someone who’s been without food for the better part of an entire day. I do take a moment from my reward to ask another question of Shizune, who is currently displaying a little more grace than I.

Is Misha feeling any better?

After reading my question, she gives me a sign for what I think is “so-so”.

Her fever has gone down some, but she’s still quite nauseous. The nurse said it’s nothing to worry about. A little virus that should be gone in a couple of days.

Good. It’s not the same without Misha here.

I’m not quite sure why, but Shizune perks up after my last note. That mischievous grin of hers that I’ve come to both love and dread seeing suddenly appears.

I see, you already miss Misha and are worried about her. Could it be that you’re in love? I should hurry and tell her right now. I should warn you though, I don’t think she feels the same way about you.

Ugh. Shizune’s teasing has become far less subtle lately. It seems she takes every chance she can to try to get a reaction out of me. I can’t say that I really mind the attention, but she’s way off the mark this time.

Do you have a fever now too? Misha’s nice, but not my type. But there is someone that I love.

After passing the pad across to her, I really begin to question if confessing to her right now is a good idea. I’ve been wanting to do so for a while and her teasing just now seemed to be a good lead-in to it. It was a spur of the moment decision, but now that I’ve thought about it for a few extra seconds, I wonder if I should really do this right now.

That mischievous, teasing grin slowly fades away as she stares at the pad for quite a bit longer than it should take to read. She goes back to eating, though it’s more moving the food around with a small nibble here and there than actual eating, never once raising her eyes to meet mine. This is definitely not the response I was hoping for. I try to come up with something to fix this, but nothing is coming to mind. Maybe I can just play it off as a joke? I reach for the pad, but she slaps her hand down on top of it to stop me.

It’s Satou, isn’t it? You love Satou and have been too afraid to tell me!

What? How did this happen? It took me days to get Lilly to stop being angry with me after that incident with the festival forms. It took even longer to get Shizune to talk to me again after she found out I made amends with Lilly. I’ve kept a pretty neutral stance between the two since then, but how does she think that I love Lilly? I look up at her and my confused face is met by one brimming with anger.

What? She’s just a friend.

The pad is snatched away from me so quickly that I barely have time to finish.

Don’t lie to me! You spend half your time with her! You defend her if I say anything about her! Don’t you dare lie to me!

My confusion gives way to anger of my own. I don’t quite understand how we ended up like this right now, but I’m already fed up with this.

I have tea with her and Hanako twice a week just to talk. They’re my friends. I barely talk to them other than that. You just blow things way out of proportion when it comes to her.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shizune quite as mad as she is after she reads that. She’s visibly shaking with anger. Any other time, I would be trying to find some way to calm her down, but not this time. I’m quite pissed that things have degraded into this. So, I do the only thing I can think of right now and snatch the pad away from her before she has a chance to say anything else.

Dammit I love you! Not Lilly. Not Misha. YOU!

I slam the pad down on the table in front of her. We glare at each other for several minutes, her refusing to look at what I wrote and me refusing to back down from her. Finally, she glances down at the pad and then quickly gives it her undivided attention. I can see the fury that had formerly contorted her face fade away, being replaced by a slightly confused and embarrassed expression. After taking enough time to read the note several times over, she hands me her reply.

Do you mean this? You’re not just saying this? You really love me?

Yes, I mean it. Yes, I really love you. Will you go out with me?

The anger I felt earlier has been completely replaced with embarrassment as well. I’m very curious about what she’s thinking right now as she hasn’t looked up at me since my confession. I’m starting to get very nervous, reaching a breaking point as she passes back her reply.

Yes, but only if you can beat me at a game of Risk. If you lose...

What? I swear if my jaw wasn’t so firmly attached it would have fallen off just now. I wave my hand in front of her to get her attention, but she doesn’t look up at me. Instead, she points to the pad we’ve been speaking through.

“If I lose”, what?

If you lose, you have to go out with me.

I am completely stunned. I look to her again and this time she greets me with that wonderful, mischievous smile, lighting up her face more than ever before. I can’t help but meet her smile with one of my own. She’s so damn competitive. For the life of me, I can’t decide if I love her because of that, or in spite of it.

The lunch bell rings again, signaling the end to what has become a very nice lunch together with the girl I love. She surmises as much from my reaction and passes the pad my way.

The lunch bell? Come back here after classes and we’ll decide your fate.

I grab my bag and head for the door as Shizune begins to clean up our lunch. I stop in the doorway and stare at her for a moment, completely satisfied that whatever happens in our game after classes we are a couple now. She notices me standing there and quickly gives me one of her annoyed glares while pointing out of the room. I do not miss the slight blushing of her cheeks though as I concede a temporary defeat and make my retreat to the classroom.

The rest of the afternoon passes quickly as I happily take notes for Shizune and Misha. The bell rings again, and for the second time in one day, I’m amazed at just how wondrous a sound it is. I grab my bag and make my way to the student council room as quickly as the crowd of students will let me. When I enter, she is already waiting for me, the game board completely set up and ready for our battle.

I take my place across from her and we begin. For the first few turns, I spend more time watching her than watching her moves. She quickly notices this and gives me a disapproving look.

If you don’t take this seriously, I may have to reconsider the conditions of our wager.

Okay, okay. Don’t complain when you lose though.

I hold my own against her for quite a while. It even looks like I have her on the ropes for a moment, until I realize that I’ve gotten careless and overextended myself. She led me into a trap in Europe and I waltzed right into it. Within just a few more turns, my once assured win has devolved into a firm hold on Australia and a couple of poor souls in South America.

Once again, I will allow you to keep Australia in exchange for agreeing to my benevolent rule. If you refuse, I’m afraid I will have to crush you and your people.

Oh well. I put up a good fight, but it looks like I have no choice left. I pretend to be completely dejected as I hand her my answer to her ultimatum.

I surrender. You win.

She raises her hands in celebration and makes a few bows to the nonexistent audience applauding for her, then writes something on the pad and slides it to me as she stands up.

Then it’s time that I claim the spoils of war.

By the time I look up, she has already reached my side of the table and is pulling me up by my arm. I stand in front of her as she places her hands on my shoulders. I place mine on her sides and she immediately starts squirming, quickly stepping a little closer to me and moving my hands to her back. It seems she’s quite ticklish on her sides. I’ll have to remember that for any future rebellion I may want to wage. As she wraps her arms around my neck and leans in, bringing her face closer to mine, I can only think that maybe living under the rule of this particular dictator won’t be so bad.

[scott1and]

I liked it. simple enough. didn't notice any spelling errors, grammer was alright as well. Then again I'm not very picky when it comes to fanfics, more work to come I hope

[griffon8]

Always good to see a fanfic with my favorite.

It seemed a very realistic presentation of the argument and the game, especially with those stakes.

[Brogurt]

I can only think that maybe living under the rule of this particular dictator won’t be so bad.

Shizune lovers summarized in one sentence. You know you just want to get pegged.

Aaannnyyywwwaaayyy, I was pleasantly surprised at what I read. Many of Hisao's internal monologues seemed spot on with the writings that we've seen so far in the demo. But Shizune's reaction to the confession seemed a bit weak. I'd have thought her to see that kind of thing coming from a mile away, seeing as how she's supposed to be some kind of savant-level strategist.

[Mirage_GSM]

She's probably not had that many confessions before, and besides being paranoid about Lilly could have blinded her to the reality.

[Leotrak]

being paranoid about Lilly could have blinded her to the reality.

I see what you did there

Anyway, nice read, this ^_^