Chapter 162: The Blue King's Doubts

"A terminal?"

Kurama raised an eyebrow slightly.

Tatara turned his head upon hearing this and exchanged a glance with him, evidently arriving at the same possibility.

Seeing that the two had already guessed the source of the Blue King's voice, Fushimi no longer bothered to conceal it. He raised a hand and pulled out a terminal from the inner pocket of his uniform, which had been connected at some unknown moment—

"Lieutenant."

"Mm, good work, Fushimi-kun."

From the receiver came the deep, calm voice of the Blue King, Munakata Reishi, seemingly mixed with a trace of an elusive smile.

Fushimi softly replied, "No, not at all," and then decisively tilted the receiver over, directly facing Tatara and Kurama...

"Pardon the intrusion, Totsuka-kun, but please do not blame Fushimi-kun," said the person on the other end of the line, his tone gentle and his phrasing exceedingly polite.

"Because 'If Totsuka Tatara or the Red King Suoh Mikoto appears, find a way to notify me and allow me to have a direct conversation with them'—this was the task I personally assigned to Fushimi-kun before he set out on this mission. Therefore, his actions are merely following orders, and he harbored no deliberate intention to plot any schemes or conspiracies..."

—Saying this, he paused slightly with a rather meaningful implication.

The sole person present whose expression had turned terribly grim after Fushimi produced the terminal, and who was also the only one suspecting that a massive conspiracy lay behind Fushimi's gesture—classmate Yata Misaki—felt a vein throb violently on his temple.

...SO! SORRY! ABOUT! THAT! THIS! LORD! SIMPLY! DOES! NOT! TRUST! THAT! BASTARD! MONKEY!

Yata ground his teeth in silence.

As the object of such resentment, the youthful Fushimi hooked the corners of his lips upon catching Yata's expression, giving him a smile dripping with provocation (and teasing).

"Mi→sa↘ki↗～"

He called out Yata's name without a sound, deliberately slowing his movements so the other could clearly read his lip shape...

"...==+"

The force with which Yata was gripping his skateboard was so great that his knuckles were already turning white!

However, suppressed by the pale hand that had rested on his shoulder the moment Fushimi smiled and looked his way, the surging anger and irritation in his heart were likewise held down. At the same time, his emotions were gently and patiently placated and soothed by some miraculous, tender power. Taking a deep breath at last, Yata slowly relaxed his tightly clenched fists...

"Totsuka-san, I'm fine."

—Though there was still a lingering edge of teeth-gnashing resentment in his tone, this voice was far calmer than Tatara had hoped.

The flaxen-haired youth let out a soft sigh of relief.

Before withdrawing the hand resting on the other's shoulder, he gave it a reassuring, gentle pat. Tatara then shifted his gaze directly toward Fushimi's... held terminal:

"I wonder what the Blue King wishes to discuss with me or the King?"

Munakata on the other end of the receiver fell briefly silent at those words.

"Reasons."

After a long while, as if finally pulling his thoughts back to focus, he spoke in a deep voice.

"I want to know the reasons why you chose to cooperate with Scepter 4."

"...Reasons?" Tatara's tone was filled with confusion. "I thought the information Yata transmitted earlier was already clear enough? The reason we chose to cooperate is naturally because..."

There were certain matters that, without the involvement of Scepter 4, would become more than twice as difficult to execute...

"But that is not the true reason why you would choose to cooperate with the 'blues,' whom you ordinarily find most distasteful, is it?"

—Before Tatara could finish, Munakata calmly interrupted him.

That Blue Kingsman communicating with him across the airwaves via electronic signals had not appeared in person, yet at the very second he spoke these words, despite the vast distance between them, Tatara still felt a suffocating and terrifying pressure ripple faintly from the other end of the receiver...

"Let me cut straight to the point."

The blue-haired King, who led the Blue Clan and was trusted and defended by his clansmen in a manner distinct from the Red King Suoh Mikoto, spoke softly.

"Where did you obtain this information: that the Silver King and the Colorless King swapped bodies; that the Colorless King's seemingly accidental act of 'killing' you was not a reckless whim of the moment, but an intention to provoke Suoh's anger, smoothly force Scepter 4's intervention, and create an opposition and conflict between us and HOMRA, allowing him to take advantage of the chaos..."

"Do not tell me this was something you heard from the Colorless King in your dying moments after narrowly escaping death, nor that it was the result of 'divination' by the little princess on your end. Both you and I know very well that this is merely... an excuse."

Pausing, seemingly to leave Tatara room for thought, Munakata spoke once more before the atmosphere could grow truly awkward and rigid due to the prolonged silence:

"What I want to know is the 'truth,' Totsuka-kun."

The true... 'truth.'

***

Tatara did not answer immediately.

The Blue King's skepticism and subsequent cross-examination were entirely reasonable. When Kurama and Izumo were formulating and discussing their plan, this had already been anticipated long in advance.

Yet even so, neither of them had intended to reveal the genuine truth to the Blue King from the outset—leaving aside how difficult it was for someone hearing such bizarre claims for the first time to believe and accept them, the feral (?) reaction Yata Misaki would inevitably exhibit upon encountering Fushimi, the potential representative negotiator chosen by Scepter 4, clearly cut off almost all possibility of him explaining the truth to the Blue King Munakata Reishi ==

However, HOMRA had no other insiders besides Yata to act as this negotiator, so Izumo, the strategist, simply stopped racking his brain over how to rein in Yata's temper. Instead, he approached the matter through Munakata's personality, choosing not to reveal the truth at the start, but waiting for the other side to actively pursue it, at which point Yata would contact either him or Suoh to communicate with the Blue King.

—This was, in fact, remarkably similar to the orders Munakata had given Fushimi beforehand.

In the end, therefore, a King would still have to confront a King, yet in order to minimize the attention drawn by HOMRA's contact with Scepter 4, they had no choice but to take a rather circuitous route.

Thinking of this, Tatara could not help but shake his head helplessly.

"The true 'truth'... That is naturally something we intended to share candidly with you from the very beginning."

He stated readily.

"It's just that... given Yata's state just now, whether it were the truth or a falsehood, it probably... wouldn't have been very easy to explain, right?"

Saying this, he cast a helpless glance back at the youthful Yata, successfully making the other's expression sour once more.

Munakata on the other end of the terminal fell into an uncanny silence upon hearing this.

Given even the Blue King's capacity for tolerance and acceptance, in that exact split second, he probably had no idea how to react either.

Kurama thought with a hint of amusement.

Ever since bypassing the fountain and discovering Yata and Fushimi hiding here for a private rendezvous (not really), the Youko had consciously lowered his presence to a remarkably thin level.

On one hand, this was naturally out of a desire to have an unobstructed, front-row view of the unspeakable romance (or rather, forced-entry tropes...) between the stalkerish, sadistic, cruel S-tier youth and his hot-tempered, adorable childhood friend. On the other hand...

To cooperate with Izumo's plan, it was inconvenient for the Youko to expose himself too early—especially since he had long sensed that Fushimi seemed to be paying attention to the terminal in his arms at all times.

But now, since Tatara had already laid things out with the Blue King, he had nothing left to worry about.

Ignoring the astonished gaze cast his way as the bespectacled youth opposite him reacted to the sudden, sharp surge of presence emanating from his body, Kurama summoned the space of the Space-Devouring Grass and began picking and choosing items inside alongside Mokona...

"Want a cookie?" "Yes, please!"

"Cheesecake?" "Want that too~"

"Seasonal fruit tart? There are four flavors available, you know~" "I want every single one!"

"No, you can only choose one; you can pick another one tonight—you already ate a fruit tart back at the restaurant, you can't have any more today."

"Mph... Fine ⊙﹏⊙" Drooping ears, drooping ears.

"Acting spoiled won't work either." Feigning strictness.

"Then tonight I want an extra portion... No, two portions of little puddings! The absolute tiniest kind, the kind Kurama can eat in one bite!" Look! Such a small portion size! I'm being so good! This request is completely reasonable!

"Fine... fine." The feigned, unqualified poker face completely crumbled as he reached out to pinch the chubby little belly~

"Ah~~~ Kurama, don't~~ It tickles >_<"

Author's note: Waking up early to update again~ Saturdays and Sundays are truly wonderful! Being able to crawl back into bed for a nap after waking up early is simply the height of happiness! [Streaming tears]

And then... _(:3∠)_ Actually, I originally wanted to write a small clash between Kurama and King Blue, but later I felt that not being face-to-face lacked a bit of punch, so I moved this scene to later when they meet in person →_→

As for today's stalker classmate and his mi→sa↘ki↗ who are still brimming with homoerotic tension... I suddenly, especially, desperately want to write a confinement play for these two! The sadist destroys all morals qaq, but... in this great era of censorship, how can a broken me save a broken you! [Yerkong hands]

So, update finished, rolling away to continue my nap. Dizzy and lightheaded from Aunt Flo's arrival, praying I can update a bit earlier tonight qaq