Chapter 1.

- # -

(School Week One. Friday)

From my window seat in the classroom, I watched the gulls ride the thermal currents flowing over the ocean waves. Looking small in the distance, they resembled tiny pieces of paper littering the air, rising and falling, sometimes lazily circling about. Nonetheless, I knew they were gulls and not paper, and for much of the afternoon homeroom period they had persistently nagged at my attention.

The small flock of gulls dove out of sight. I imagined them diving beyond the rocky shoreline of Telos Island that was shored up by a seawall completely encircling the island. For extra measure, countless permacrete tetrapods banked up against the seawall, protecting it from the heavy waves roused up by the ocean storms that frequented the coastline during the summers experienced in the northern hemisphere.

I say I imagined the gulls diving beyond the seawall because despite having a window seat on the second level – or first floor if you counted the ground floor – my view of the ocean was obscured by the giant monstrosity of permaglass and titansteel that was the high school clubroom building – a hundred meters long and four stories tall with a transparent façade facing the school.

What is the point of a window seat if all I can see is that vulgar architectural disaster?

I really hated that building and wished the school had built it somewhere else. To me it was a testament to the ego of some half-baked architect with too little talent and too little imagination. I found nothing appealing in its design, though I’m sure someone will criticize me for my lack of taste.

I watched and waited for the gulls to reappear above its rooftop. When they didn’t, my attention drifted upwards to the long, thin contrail cutting across the patchy late afternoon sky, generated by a trans-orbit shuttle making its way down planetside from the orbital city. Then again, it could be a commercial skyliner making the low orbit jump from west coast to east coast of the northern continent. With a faint shrug to myself, I watched the contrail slowly dissipate back into the surrounding atmosphere.

The sound of a bell ringing dragged my attention back to the front of the classroom, where our teacher, Miss Serene Marisol, quickly wrapped up proceedings for afternoon homeroom.

For the six thousand students attending Telos Academy, that bell signaled the end of classes for the day, and the end of the five-day school week that paralleled the business week. In other words, it was Friday afternoon, and time to pack up and head for home or other intervening destinations.

I looked at the tall annoyingly good looking blonde boy seated ahead of me, and watched him with a sinking feeling in my gut as he pack his belongings quickly into his school issued carry-bag. It was obvious he had plans, and those plans didn’t include me. This was something that had become abundantly clear during the week – more specifically ever since we graduated into high school – as more often than not I found myself heading home on my own, and today was apparently no exception.

Nonetheless, I made a valiant effort to alter that outcome.

I cleared my throat and leaned forward over my intelli-desk. “Hey, Tobias, how about that crêpe place over in Ring One? It’s close by the arcade. I was thinking we could pass by on our way—”

“Sorry, Ronin. Gotta run.” He hastily stood up and pushed his chair in under his intelli-desk.

I stared at him and blinked quickly. “Wh—what do you mean you have to run?” I sat back. “What—again? You’re ditching me again?”

For a heartbeat, he looked uncomfortable or perhaps nervous. “I’ll explain later—I promise. Something I have to do. Sorry.”

“Huh?”

He threw me a fast wave. “See you. Tell you about it later. Ah—maybe.”

I frowned, thinking he wasn’t making sense. “Hey—wait! What are you talking about? What about our plans? I thought we were hitting the arcade—”

He palmed his hands together in supplication as he backed away. “Sorry Cass, but you know you like that game more than I do. Besides I can’t beat you. No one can. You’re the best.”

I wasn’t ready to give up on him or our joint afternoon activities. “Yeah, but it’s not the only game there. What about the Princess Royale? You keep bugging me to try that.” There was a reason why I avoided that game like the plague, but we’ll get to that later. “I’ll make an exception today. I’ll try out. What do you say?”

I must admit to my embarrassment that I was sounding rather desperate, and this did not go unnoticed by my classmates, namely a cadre of girls getting ready to leave.

“…there he goes again….”

“…I have to feel sorry of her….”

"...don't you mean sorry for him...?"

“…her boyfriend’s running out on her….”

I ground my teeth together.

I can HEAR you!

However, they did state a valid observation. I really did sound like a girl being ditched. It didn’t help that my voice had failed to break. Can you imagine that? I was almost sixteen years old and yet my voice still hadn’t broken. So in effect, I most certainly sounded like a nagging girlfriend.

Tobias shook his head as he continued retreating from me, and waved a hand airily. “Nah, I won’t be able to beat you in that either. You’re just too good.”

I stood up and leaned forward on my desk. “You’re saying that without trying.”

He pumped a fist in the air. “Set a new high score and tell me about it.”

My expression contorted into disbelief. “What…?”

He looked sheepish and a tad nervous as he continued backing away. “Cass, I swear I’ll make it up to you. Just forgive me this once. Please. This is a big deal for me.”

“Just this once?” Feeling abandoned is unpleasant, but I bristled for a heartbeat and growled, “And don’t call me Cass!”

He grinned, yet oddly I felt it was forced. He turned quickly and cut a fine path across the classroom to the front entrance on the opposite side of the room.

I watched him in a state of disgruntled disbelief. “A big deal? What the Hell does that mean?”

He was through the door and out of sight a heartbeat later.

I doubted he heard me, and I was probably the farthest thing on his mind at the moment.

Sitting back down, I crossed my arms, and ruminated darkly.

“…ow…she got dumped again….”

“…I really do feel sorry for her….”

Silently, I renewed grinding my teeth together. Just to set the record straight, I’m a guy not a girl, but this manner of ribbing was something that began late last year when the differences between Tobias and I grew more noticeable. And as I’d mentioned before, I sounded more like a girl than a guy. Complement that with my feminine appearance, it was hard for anyone to see me as a guy despite the uniform I was wearing. Insisting that I was male only convinced people to see me as a tomboy.

“…hey, want to invite her to a mixer...?”

“…are you serious…?”

“…that’s crazy….”

“…is it? A little make up….”

“…and a dress….”

“…I bet she’d look really cute….”

I stopped grinding my teeth and instead sighed long and low under my breath as I considered my situation.

Yet again with no explanation, the only real friend I had at this school, or anywhere else for that matter, had just abandoned me, and as I’d mentioned before, not for the first time this week. I had acquaintances and classmates, but Tobias Matheus Praetor the Third was my best friend, adversary, rival, and fellow Menial, ever since we entered middle school at Telos Academy three years ago. I strongly believed we were like-minded individuals, but this week that belief had been thrown into question.

Why was he in such a rush?

I slumped my shoulders and glanced out the window as I fell into thought, remembering how he skipped lunch with me and chose to spend it talking to a pretty girl in the cafeteria. I recognized her as Monique Valjean from Class One-Dee, and remembered seeing the attractive brunette with the impressive rack loitering about outside our classroom on a number of occasions this week.

I nodded slowly to myself.

Yeah, that would explain a lot. He probably ditched me for a date with her.

Truthfully, I didn’t like her. There was something about Valjean that just rubbed me the wrong way. I experienced a weird sensation whenever I looked at her, or rather glanced at her, that made me uncomfortable. I’d only learnt her name in passing when I overheard some of the girls in my class talking critically of her, and that was because said girls were annoyed that the boys they were interested in were instead interested in Valjean. I guess female jealousy or envy can be an ugly thing, especially if you were on the receiving end.

I’m so glad I’m not a girl.

I may have thought that, but a certain quartet in my class had other ideas.

“…I just got a reply….”

“…oh, what did they say…?”

“…the more the merrier….”

I heard them giggle and my thoughts darkened, yet I refused to turn away from the window.

“…really? So should we ask her…?”

“…yeah but what about her clothes…?”

“…hmm, I’m sure we can pick something up along the way….”

“…it’s at the mall anyway….”

I felt a growl well up in my throat and clamped it down.

“…hey let’s go ask her….”

“…you go….”

“…no, you go….”

“…fine, fine. I’ll go….”

The more I overheard them, the more my growl grew, and now it was swelling up in my chest like a balloon putting pressure on my lungs. I decided it was best to leave sooner rather than later in the event the balloon burst and I lost control, thereby committing an act I would live to regret. I turned away from the window, and began the process of shutting down my intelli-desk, but the sound of footsteps approaching made my fingers stumble and I touched the wrong parts of the desktop.

“Damn it….”

The footsteps stopped by my desk, and the balloon of hot emotions burst in my chest.

“No, I am not going to a mixer!”

I almost shouted the words as I looked up at the girl standing near my desk. She had a hand on one hip while the other carried her schoolbag slung over a shoulder.

“Ah—!” I swallowed hard as I recognized her.

“Mixer? What’s this about a mixer?”

My classmate, Felicia Anjeur, questioned me with an affable smile. She was taller than me and naturally slender but years of training had gifted her with an athletic build. She was quite pretty, enough to make my heart skip a beat the first time she talked to me at the beginning of last year in middle school. It was something unexpected, and though I’d wondered many times why she spoke to me rather than the other guys in my glass, I decided not to ask. I believed that to do so would be a mistake, so I accepted her company and conversation.

I blinked hastily, and then turned my head to look at the group of four girls staring at me from across the classroom.

“…she heard us….”

“…oops….”

“…maybe we’ll ask her next time….”

“…yeah, she’s bound to be dumped again….”

I fixed a glare upon the quartet.

“…she’s mad….”

“…we’d better go….”

I watched them giggle amongst themselves while casting furtive smiles at me as they quickly exited the classroom.

I slumped in my chair.

Felicia humphed to herself. “I guess it’s getting worse,” she muttered.

“Can’t really blame them,” I muttered back. I might be criticized for feeling sorry for myself, but there are times when it just can’t be avoided.

“True. You do make a pretty girl.”

I tossed my hands in the air. “Oh for the love the gods! Thank you. Just what I needed to hear. Maybe I should come to school next week in a girl’s uniform. Wouldn’t that make people laugh.” Felicia’s eyes widened, and I felt guilty over my outburst. “Sorry….”

“Well, I don’t think they’d be laughing,” she stated seriously.

“No, they’d probably hunt me down and beat me up.” Memories of being chased down the school corridors during my day as Princess Silver Blue flashed before my eyes. Remembering the traumatic event, I started to tremble, and my legs became rubbery.

“Why would they beat you up?” Felicia wondered partly to herself and partly to me.

Surprised by the concern in her voice, I looked up at her with my eyes wide. For a moment, a single heartbeat, I wondered if I should tell her. But I had promised myself and extracted an oath from the Cosplay Club that my identity as the Silver Blue Princess would never be revealed to the world. Thus, even though I wavered on the cusp of making that soul shattering reveal, I held my tongue and tried to dismiss her concern with a shrug as I looked back down at my intelli-desk running through the shutdown process.

Felicia sighed and said, “Well, maybe not everyone would be as accepting, but I don’t think it would be all that bad.”

I held back a frown of disbelief. Was she even thinking when she said such things?

From across the room, a girl’s voice called out, “Hey, Feli, did you ask him or not?”

The owner of that voice was a girl with natural blonde hair, a heart shaped face, and hazel eyes. Like Felicia, she sported a slender yet athletic build with long legs that tapered into perfect ankles and cute feet. A smidgeon more attractive than Felicia – probably because of my natural preference toward blondes – Angela Letrois wore her customary thoughtful smile as she regarded the two of us silently. Like her companion, Angela too had struck up conversation with me last year, and I’d learnt a lot about her tastes, likes and dislikes, from our lunchtime and classroom chats.

If I had to characterize my relationship with the two girls, I would say they weren’t friends of mine but strong acquaintances, and I’d enjoyed lunch at school in their company on many occasions. The downside was that more often than not, I found myself dragged into discussions that my male classmates wouldn’t dream about, and more than likely choke upon topics that eroded my sense of male identity. While other guys were talking about sports and girls – well, mostly girls – I found myself wading through the subjects of fashion, gossip, the latest entertainment trends, who was dating whom, and who was on the rebound. It was all innocent enough, but the cold reality was that Felicia and Angela didn’t see me as a guy, and so they had no trouble including me in their clique or circle, something that left me with convoluted feelings that cycled between gratitude and resentment.

Standing beside my intelli-desk, Felicia blinked then gasped as though abruptly remembering why she came over in the first place. “Oh, yeah, I completely forgot.”

She grinned down at me like a cartoon cat.

Yes, that was indeed her specialty. If Felicia ever gained the ability to become transparent, I was convinced the one thing that would remain visible was her cartoon smile. At the very least she had perfect pearly whites. However, at the moment her grin was making me nervous.

“Wh—what?”

“We have a proposition for you.”

“I told you before I’m not going to a mixer,” I declared, looking at her eyes instead of her mouth.

“Oh, forget about the mixer. We can do that another time.”

“What?”

“Besides we need to get you a dress.”

“What?”

Felicia turned her smile into a thoughtful pout. “Well, we figured we’d cheer you up.”

Some of my annoyance veered away into surprise. “Huh?”

“You got ditched by your boyfriend, didn’t you?” She wagged her slender eyebrows at me. “Third time this week?”

“Fourth time—and he’s not my boyfriend.”

She waved a hand. “Chill, girl. Chill.”

“Felicia—!”

“So since you’re single again, we figured we’d treat you to something special.”

For a moment, I was left with my mouth hanging open.

Felicia gave me a questioning look. “You did say you wanted to try out the crêpes in that new place by the entertainment arcade.”

“Eh…I guess I did.” I realized she’d been eavesdropping on me.

“So what are you waiting here for? Let’s get going.” She leaned toward me and smiled suspiciously at me. “What do you say? You’ll have three of the prettiest girls in the school keeping you company. Are you man enough to handle all three of us?”

I squared my shoulders and leaned back at her. “Ha ha. Very funny.” Suddenly my eyebrows rose sharply when the proverbial penny dropped. “Three girls?”

“Yeah. Three girls,” Felicia replied, dazzling me with her twin rows of pearly white teeth, while holding up three fingers for me to count.

Hesitantly, I looked toward the opposite side of the room and my anxious gaze fell upon a girl standing at her intelli-desk, her eyes glaring at me on an otherwise impassive yet incredibly beautiful face. She had long, almost snow blonde hair, and almond shaped emerald eyes. Her five foot six figure was trim, slender, and topped with a generous helping of womanly flesh where it counted the most – her chest.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Anri Shirohime was a goddess to us first year students, and our class rep.

She was the girl I considered number two in my ranked list of goddesses, both attending and not attending the academy and while it wasn’t the first time our eyes had met, it certainly wasn’t the first time she’d glared at me. I had myself to blame for drawing her ire, and that was because my gaze inexorably travelled from her beautiful face down to her chest and settled there. It wasn’t my fault. A chest as perfectly proportioned as hers demanded attention, and it was a man’s duty to oblige. But leaving that aside, whenever I gazed upon her, I melted like warm butter.

Shirohime was a new addition to our class this year, though not the only one. Graduating from middle school to high school, there had been a reshuffling of class assignments, breaking up some of the established cliques, and requiring the hasty need to form new ones or become a resident of Lonerville for the remainder of the year. Tobias and I had moved up into Class One-Cee together, but Shirohime and a handful of other girls were brought in from other classes in an effort to accommodate new students and compensate for those that had transferred out of the academy. However, this balancing act left us with a classroom of thirty-six students, where two thirds of them were girls.

I should mention that the four girls toying with the idea of inviting me to a mixer were part of the new ranks to join Class One-Cee. As such, I didn’t know them well, that is to say, I was less familiar with them than my other classmates, but equally so I knew little about Shirohime.

From her self-introduction at the beginning of the week, I’d learnt that she’d transferred to Telos Academy late last year after moving south to Ar Telica for reasons she would not disclose. When the subject of nominating a Class Rep arose, she volunteered for the position without batting an eyelid, leaving many of my classmates happy to be spared the need to vote for someone, and many of us wondering why anyone would volunteer in the first place since it was a problematic role to fulfill.

So here I was, moments after locking eyes with her, melting into a puddle of nervous goo as I was consumed by her beauty. However, Shirohime huffed and tossed her hair, then folded her arms brusquely under her breasts as she averted her gaze.

Clearly rejected, I felt my heart sink as I continued to melt away, until Felicia suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders and yanked me up to my feet.

“Okay, girl. Let’s go.” Still holding onto me, she spun me around with a strength that came from long hours of training at her sports club.

“Felicia—!”

“Girl, you complain too much. Onward march.”

“Wait—my bag!”

She picked it up with ease and threw the straps over my shoulder. “Come on, Princess. Let’s get going.”

There was clearly no arguing with her.

Watched by the amused Angela and the disapproving Shirohime, I was marched along by Felicia. Overwhelmed by her surprising strength, my ego took the blow and then withered up on the floor of my psyche, unable to handle the truth that a girl was so much stronger than I was.

The trio ensured I didn’t run away, and thus escorted me down to the shoe lockers. After swapping my indoor shoes for my outdoor ones, Felicia and Angela flanked me as the four of us departed the academy’s high-school building and made our way across the wide entrance, heading toward the mag-lev station.

- # -

Telos Academy was built upon Telos Island, aptly named after the Telos Conglomerate or Corporation that leased it from the city-state governing authority some three decades ago. The island was one of three plateaued rocks rising from the waters of the horseshoe shaped harbor that was several kilometers wide.

A broad bridge connected the island to Ar Telica city’s Ring Zero. It was long enough to span the kilometer distance from the island to the harbor shore, and wide enough to support four lanes of vehicular traffic. Sidewalks ran on either side of the bridge, used by thousands of students in the mornings and afternoons. Those students that didn’t care for walking over the bridge could travel aboard the overhead maglev service that looped over to the island and back to the city. The entrance to Telos Academy was scarcely two hundred meters away from the foot of the bridge, and only a hundred meters from the maglev station.

As I exited the academy grounds, surrounded by Angela and Felicia, with Class Rep trailing behind us, I inwardly debated suggesting we take the bridge. I didn’t exercise much outside of physical education class, and the walk would do me some good. After all, it was rare for Tobias and I to head off in separate ways, and whenever we left together he made it a habit for us to catch the maglev back to the city. Thus I considered a change of pace might be good for me, but the girls had other ideas, and guided me toward the steps leading up to the elevated mag-lev station.

After climbing the steps, I joined the throng of students pushing their way to the entrance. When it was my turn, I swiped my student ID over the turnstile scanner, and once past the butterfly gates, I headed for the platform. For a few seconds, I lost sight of the girls and breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that if I couldn’t see them, then they couldn’t see me. But my freedom was short lived. A hand snaked out between the waiting students and grabbed me by the arm, pulling me to where the trio were grouped together.

“No running away,” Felicia quipped, then glanced up the line. “Oh, it’s here.”

The mag-lev swooshed down the line and pulled up to the platform with a loud hiss. As soon as the doors opened with a hiss of their own, the stampede to get aboard began in earnest. I was pushed and shoved and generally carried along by the wave of students eager to board the mag-lev. Somehow I ended up squished between a handful of senior students, all of them towering around me. For several seconds I believed I was still stuck in middle-school. Nothing had changed, and clearly not my lack of height, so I proverbially battened down the hatches, and tucked in my arms over my carry-bag.

Though the mag-lev pulled away smoothly, I struggled to maintain my balance, and so too did a number of the students around me. Bodies shifted around as they sought better footing. Bumped from behind, I was pitched face first into someone’s chest, realizing only moments later that the softness cushioning the impact was a pair of voluptuous breasts wrapped in a bra and white school blouse. With my nose filled with the scent of a girl’s perfume, I hastily pulled back ready to apologize, but the words died on my lips at sight of the girl’s angry face.

Despite our cramped surroundings, Anri Shirohime succeeded in raising a hand and delivering a slap that sounded as loud as it was hard, and for a few seconds I saw stars circling around me head. Unfortunately, as the mag-lev swayed someone again pushed me from behind, and once more I was pitched into her glorious bust.

- # -

“I said I was sorry,” I repeated for the umpteenth time as I walked with Felicia, Angela, and a furiously red Class Rep out of the mag-lev station situated a few hundred feet from the entertainment complex located in Ring Zero. All four of us were walking toward it since the crêpe shop was situated within the complex that was also home to the multi-level gaming arcade I frequented often enough to consider it a home away from home.

“So how were they?” Felicia asked.

“Huh?” I gave her a perplexed look.

“Her bust. How was it?”

I gaped like a fish out of water, and blushed hotly as the memory of being nestled between Class Rep’s immense bosom pushed all other thoughts aside.

Felicia’s laugh sounded distant. “Hey, Anri. Do you see that? Your breasts left him speechless. You took his breath away.”

Shirohime’s eyebrows twitched. “Don’t call me, Anri.”

“Oh come on now, we’re all friends. You can me Feli. And you can call her Ange. And you can call her Cass—I mean you can call him, Cass.”

“No, I’ll just stick to calling him a pervert.” The glare Shirohime directed at me blew away the memory I had of her breasts cushioning my face. “He may not look manly but he’s just as perverted.”

I blinked sharply and glowered at her. “Hey, that’s not fair. I wasn’t trying to bury my face in your chest. I was pushed. How many times do I have to tell you?”

“Pushed? Five times?” Shirohime looked ready to slap me again. “And the last time you didn’t even bother moving away.”

“Ah—” My voice caught and I floundered for a several seconds. “Well. I didn’t see the point.”

Felicia chuckled, but Shirohime looked moments away from going ballistic. “What was that?”

“Well, if I was going to get pushed again, what was the point of trying to avoid it?”

“You mean you deliberately stuck your face in my chest?”

I shook my head weakly. “I didn’t do it deliberately. I just gave up trying not to.”

Shirohime circled around Felicia and approached me. “You little pervert.”

I stared up at her. “You’re not going to hit me again, are you?”

“I have every intention of pummeling you into the ground.”

Angela snuck into the argument. “Class Rep, you’re setting a bad example. You’re supposed to look out for your classmates, not beat them up.”

Shirohime shot the blonde girl a heated look. “For him, I’m willing to break the rules.”

Felicia stepped in between Shirohime and I. “Now, now. No harm done. Anri, you’ve just made all of her—I mean his—Christmases come together.”

“Anjeur!” Shirohime scowled at her.

Felicia wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Girl. You are way to tense.” Then she leaned closer to Shirohime and whispered softly into her. The effect was immediate as Shirohime paled then became despondent.

I strained to listen but all I could catch was, “…besides…want to…closer…him…?”

Shirohime exhaled quietly, then folded her arms under her bust as looked away with an embarrassed look on her face. “Fine. You have a point….”

Felicia gave her a friendly shake. “You’ll see. It’ll all work out in the end.”

Shirohime pouted. “It better work out….” She flicked an annoyed glance at me.

I put the words together in my head.

You want to get closer to him.

Puzzled as I thought it through, I experienced a weird sensation run through me, and soon felt invisible fingers squeeze my heart as I watched the goddess Anri Shirohime sulk while standing before me. My thoughts jumped over several possibilities before landing on one that felt like falling on a bed of nails.

Could it be that she likes someone…and that someone isn’t me…but that someone has something to do with me?

I couldn’t endure standing on that possibility, so with my heart beating painfully in my chest, I turned away and walked with stiff steps toward the entertainment complex, arriving a minute later at the crêpe shop with its colorful pink entrance and light pastel colored walls.

But the only someone that I know is…Mat.

I stared up at the shop’s entrance.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

I sucked in a lungful of air until my chest hurt, briefly overwhelming the pain in my heart, and strode up to the shop’s entrance. However, I soon realized what I was doing and came to an abrupt stop.

With its colorful façade, I judged this shop was built to cater for girls. It wasn’t the kind of place you expected to find a boy from our Academy unless he was in the company of a girlfriend, or someone he was courting. In fact, as I looked through its front windows, I could see girls from Telos Academy occupied all the chairs at the tables. This was not an appropriate place for someone aspiring to one day be a manly young man. At that realization, a strong wave of uncertainty washed through me, and I began backing away from the entrance, coming to a stop when I felt hands on my shoulders.

“Seriously,” Felicia said, “you can be a handful. Why’d you run off?”

“I didn’t run off. I walked off,” I replied gloomily.

“Well, whatever. But what are you doing now?”

“Leaving.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t think this is a good idea,” I retorted as she pushed me firmly toward the shop doors. “Wait—you’re going the wrong way.”

“No, I’m not.”

“No, seriously. I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can. I invited you and we’re here now. And I happen to be quite hungry. So enough procrastinating. It’s not like you’re getting married, so why are you suddenly getting cold feet?”

This was almost as bad as when the girls of the Cosplay Club walked into my classroom a year ago and surrounded my desk while I was eating alone during lunchtime, Tobias having run off on some errand the details of which I can’t recall. I had honestly feared for my life back then.

No, this isn’t nearly as bad as that occasion.

However, I didn’t realize how wrong I was until the group of us walked into the shop, its interior proving to be far larger than I imagined, and decked out like a family restaurant with tables, chairs, and booths. Within moments of entering the establishment, a young waitress guided the four of us to a booth with a window view. With Felicia pushing me gently from behind, I trailed after the waitress, thus I was the first to walk by another booth with two people in it – a guy and a girl.

I hadn’t even intended to look at them, but an involuntary glance turned into a surprised stare as my eyes met those of Tobias, and both of us jerked sharply at sight of each other.

“Cass?”

“Mat?”

“What are you doing here?”

“I was invited. What about you?”

Tobias looked distinctly uncomfortable as his gaze flickered over to the girl sitting directly opposite him. My heart groaned in agony and my stomach sank when I recognized the attractive brunette sitting there.

Monique Valjean looked up at me while licking the long spoon she was using to eat her parfait. “You must be Cassidy,” she said, a smirk curling her lips as she eyed me.

“My name is Ronin,” I corrected her.

She tapped her lips with the spoon. “You really do look like a girl.”

“Huh?” I glared down at her.

She waved the spoon at me. “A change of uniform and no one would ever think you were a boy.” She glanced at Tobias. “What do you think Mat? Should we get him a girl’s uniform?”

Standing rigidly, I restrained the sudden urge to punch her, going only so far as to clench my hands into fists.

Tobias’s voice sounded somewhat strangled. “Ah, I don’t know….”

Valjean arched her eyebrows at him, while I scowled at his non-committal reply.

“Really?” she asked. “I think she’d look rather cute.”

Tobias grew even more uncomfortable, but when he looked at me I wondered if he was giving her proposal some degree of consideration. However, seeing the glare on my face, he shook his head faintly and muttered, “No, that wouldn’t be a good idea.” He swallowed hard and shook his head a little more strongly, affirming his opinion. “No, that would be a really bad idea.”

“Well I beg to differ,” she replied, and looked meaningfully at Tobias. “What do you think, Mat? Shall we get him a dress?”

Tobias regarded her reproachfully, sounding distinctly irritated. “Enough with the dress. Okay? Just drop it.”

Valjean’s eyes narrowed. “Mat, I don’t like your tone.”

“And I don’t appreciate you making fun of Cass.”

Her eyes narrowed further. “Are you forgetting who you’re talking to?”

“I’m not.”

“I are you forgetting what I told you?”

He regarded her stonily for a moment. “No, I haven’t. And that’s precisely why I’m telling you to drop it.”

Valjean rose smoothly from the booth seat. “Mat, you and I need to have a little talk.”

“Clari—I mean Monique. Sit down.”

She raised her eyebrows at him before breaking into a wicked smile. “That little slip will cost you, Matrim.”

The waitress attending to us chose to intervene by addressing me. “Ah, Miss—I mean, Sir? This way please.”

Valjean whipped her attention back onto me. “Hey Cassidy. I heard a rumor. I want you to tell me if it’s true or not?”

There are times I’ve wondered if I should have just walked away. Would it have made a difference in even the slightest way? Perhaps not. But back then, I did wonder if I’d made the wrong move.

“What rumor?” I asked her coldly, aware that Tobias was suddenly looking worried as well as confused.

Valjean slipped out between the bench seat and the table, and then stepped up to me. “I heard that you cross-played as the Silver Blue Princess.”

I felt a cold wind blow through me, sweeping away my thoughts, leaving me empty. My legs buckled and I stumbled back a step, feeling my heart pound loudly within my chest, frantically beating against my ribs as despair burst through me, filling the emptiness the wind had left behind.

Valjean was taller than I, so she looked down at me as she calmly folded her arms.

“Tell me, Princess. Is it true?”

I struggled to swallow, my mouth and throat both dry. Finding my voice was a monumental feat. “What do you want?”

“I just want to know if it’s true. Are you the Silver Blue Princess?”

My voice failed me so I remained silent.

After studying me for a long, oppressive moment, Valjean nodded to herself before snorting softly. “I heard you looked so pretty you had boys chasing you across the school. The posters the Cosplay Club made of you were sold out in a day.” She snorted again. “They were right to choose you as their poster girl. They picked up quite a lot of members after that.”

I thought my frenzied beating heart would burst. It was like a runner sprinting for the finishing line, moments away from victory or a fatal cardiac arrest. As I clutched my chest, my vision grew dark around the borders. However, I could see well enough to catch the look of confusion on Tobias’s face – confusion that quickly turned to realization and suddenly he was looking at me with a mixture of disbelief and disgust that made my stomach sink as it curled up into a fetal little ball.

I had no idea if the Cosplay Club had ratted me out, or if this bitch had discovered that embarrassing episode of my life by other means, but it was clear that from this deck of cards she held the better hand.

She laughed low and mockingly. “And you left such an impression on the boys. I wonder what they would think if they discovered the object of their desire was you. How disappointed do you think they would be? Or how angry. I bet you’d have to attend the Academy dressed as a girl, or they might beat you up. You might have to transfer to another school, but you know how rumors tend to travel. Those rumors may follow you wherever you go.”

She stopped as though waiting for me to respond, and after a while I managed to whisper, “What do you want from me?”

She smiled mercilessly. “Time to take center stage once more, Princess Silver Blue.”

I lost my voice and my legs were turning rubbery again.

Incredibly, Valjean’s smile became even crueler. “And it’s time to find a new friend, Cassidy. Stay away from Mat. As long as he’s with me, I don’t want a girly boy like you anywhere near him. Are we clear?”

In the corner of my eye, I saw Tobias rise to his feet. “Monique, that’s enough.”

His intervention gave me the opportunity to regain a little of my composure, but rather than hold my ground, I chose to flee. But when I turned to run away, I ran into Felicia. Bouncing back, I looked up to see her, Angela, and Shirohime watching me with disparate expressions. I had no doubt that Felicia and Angela had heard about the mysterious Silver Blue Princess, so it was understandable to see surprise and disbelief on their faces. However, Shirohime was a recent arrival so the puzzled look she wore was also fitting.

Felicia cocked her head at me. “So you’re the Silver Blue Princess?”

At a loss for words, I simply stared back at her.

Felicia sounded ambivalent, but clearly took my silence for an affirmative. “I don’t know why but I guess I’m not surprised.”

Behind her, Angela regarded me with a critical eye. “Silver Blue was under our noses all the time….”

Standing behind them both, Shirohime frowned, and I heard her mutter softly, “Who the Hell is Silver Blue?”

I swallowed hard, then whirled the other way.

The waitress had retreated a little, looking even more puzzled than Shirohime, so I had room to flee past her, but Tobias was on his feet, hands clenched, and a conflict of emotions playing out on his face as his gaze met mine.

At that moment, I felt something break inside of me.

Back then I had no words for it, but I can describe it now as the impression of binding chains breaking and falling away. I had lived for a year in fear of being discovered as the Silver Blue Princess. Now that my identity had been revealed, the chains of fear shackling me had snapped, and an enormous weight fell away from my body. It was all metaphorical, but truthfully I did feel lighter. At the same time, I realized that my high school life had become that much harder and more complicated. Alternatively, perhaps I was simply overthinking the situation, and the worst case scenarios I had imagined over the past year were nothing more than unfounded figments of my imagination. True, I had been chased through the school by a horde of admirers, but would it be so bad if the student body learnt the truth that I had cross-played as the Silver Blue Princess?

I swallowed again, and then decided not to run away just yet.

Nodding faintly more to myself than anyone else, I faced Valjean, meeting her eyes with as steady a gaze as I could sustain.

“Do you know why a cornered animal is so dangerous?” I asked her. Watching her smile waver, I was thus encouraged and pressed on. “Because it has nothing to lose. That means it can go all out without worrying about the consequences.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Are you threatening me?” I asked in reply. “Because if you choose to bully me, I’ll just have to give my family a call, pull some strings, and see what I can do to sue you for harassment. They are Alphas after all, and quite well regarded. They wouldn’t appreciate you sullying their good name.” I cocked my head. “On the other hand, go ahead. Tell the whole school that I cosplayed or cross-played. At least I make a better Princess than a conniving slut like you ever would.”

With that, I hefted the straps of my carry-bag higher on my shoulder, then pushed my way past Tobias and the waitress, taking the long way out of the shop as I traversed a circular path through the interior, being careful not to bump into anyone along the way. Once outside, I took deep breaths to calm myself, but my body began trembling out of my control as my adrenal cortex opened the floodgates, releasing a deluge of adrenaline that now coursed through my body in raging rivers.

Shaking badly, I walked slowly deeper into the entertainment complex, soon realizing that my feet were carrying me to my preferred port of call – the Gaming Arcade.

Yes, I would seek solace in the Arcade, my home away from home, and even the sound of running footsteps behind me or my name being called out failed to slow down my meagre pace. However, a hand on my shoulder jerked me to a stop. A combination of fear and anger fueled my response which was to swing my bag at whomever had grabbed me.

Tobias ducked with surprising speed as my bag cut the air millimeters above his head.

“Shit—Cass! Hold up!”

I grabbed my bag as it completed its swing, and stumbled back a step or two as I was carried along by the momentum.

Tobias slowly straightened and raised his hands in surrender. “Cass, calm down.”

“What do you want?” I wanted to yell at him but my voice had other ideas, so the best I could muster was a harsh whisper.

Tobias lowered his hands slowly. “Is it true?”

“Is what true?”

“Are you the Silver Blue Princess?”

I swallowed, trying to regain some of the strength in my voice. “I’m not Silver Blue. I just dressed up as her—just once.”

Again, a war of emotions broke out on his face. “Why? Why would you do that?”

“I had my reasons.”

He slowly shook his head, still deeply troubled. “What reasons? After everything you’ve said to me—after hearing you complain for so long—why would you dress up as a girl? You’ve told me so many times how much you hate the way you look, so why do it? I just don’t get it.”

“I told you, I had my reasons.”

“But you hate your appearance.”

My hands clenched tightly on the carry-bag’s straps. “I didn’t hate myself as much as I do now.”

“What does that mean?”

My voice fell, barely stronger than a whisper. “I didn’t hate myself, or the way I looked, until after I cross-played….”

Tobias’s eyes searched my face, then swept their gaze over my body for a quick moment.

I cleared my throat. “Go back, Mat. Go back to that bitch. You’re missing out on your date.”

He turned away for a second. “It’s not a date. It’s not what you think.” He took what appeared to be a anxious breath. “I can’t explain it. Not yet. Maybe never. I’m sorry. But it’s not what you think.”

I started backing away from him. “I don’t care. I really, really don’t care. Keep your explanations because I just don’t give a shit anymore.”

“Cass, please don’t be this way—”

“Don’t follow me. Go back. Don’t follow me. Right now, I don’t want to see you until Monday morning. Or maybe until next month.”

We were drawing attention to ourselves on the plaza running down the middle of the entertainment arcade. Students from Telos Academy were slowing down to watch Tobias and I. As embarrassing as that was, I was humiliated further by the way I sounded – like a girl arguing with her boyfriend – because my voice had yet to break.

Tobias glanced at the people and students watching us, some furtively, others with interest, then looked down at me. “Cass, come with me.”

When he reached out for me, I darted back, surprised by how quickly I moved. “No. Go back to that slut. And don’t you dare follow me. Don’t even freaking think about it.”

I turned away and this time my legs were sufficiently strong and steady to carry me at a run all the way to the Gaming Arcade only a few hundred feet away from the crêpe shop. I ran into the center, squeezing through as soon as the glass doors opened sufficiently wide, then sped through the crowd moving about the interior.

When I felt I was far enough from the door, I slowed down to a walk, and wandered aimlessly through the ground floor of the establishment.

I started to regret standing up for myself.

I’d dared that evil teenage witch to do her worst, and in the vernacular I was stuffed because I knew that she would. I was aware of guys continuing to inquire throughout the Academy for the identity of the girl who cosplayed as the Princess, so I continued to live in fear of being discovered. However, come Monday morning, everybody at Telos Academy would know her identity, and my hopes of a normal high school life would be over. I considered transferring to another academy, however it was more than likely my sordid past would haunt me wherever I went courtesy of that scheming bitch. Even if Felicia, Angela, and Class Rep chose to keep it a secret, Valjean would rise to the challenge and spread the word to the four corners of the city.

Yep, my life is about to turn a new page, so I might as well enjoy the old one while it lasts.

My shoulders sagged as I pondered whether it was safer to attend class incognito as a female student. After all, real men don’t hit women, do they?

Repressing a shiver of revulsion at what my future might harbor for me, I came to a stop and looked about me.

In this day and age of such realistic simulation technology, it was surprising to many market observers that arcades like these still flourished. Maybe it was because some kids simply chose to play away from home in the company of friends, rather than firing up a home entertainment rig to enjoy gaming in solitude. Home game systems were on par with much of what was offered here at the Arcade, yet the place was replete with high school students crowded around holo booths and other contraptions.

Because I was vertically challenged for a boy my age, or perhaps any age, I had trouble getting a bearing on my location so I meandered through the crowd, eventually arriving at an area that I rarely frequented.

I faced a wall of people perhaps meters thick, all with their backs turned toward me. There were very few guys in the crowd, the vast majority being girls dressed in the uniforms of Telos Academy and the nearby prestigious Vardant Academy for Girls. They may have attended different schools, but they all shared one thing in common – they were enraptured with the battle playing out on two huge holovid screens that floated overhead. Standing behind the crowd, I listened to the sounds of gunfire emanating from a surround sound system, and observed the cinematics on the immense floating screens.

One screen immediately caught my eye and roped in my attention. It displayed a long legged girl dressed in a fantastical armor that exposed copious amounts of skin and bust, running full pelt along a rooftop with a large wicked rifle cannon in hand. She looked incongruous amidst a modern night setting, her outfit more at home in a medieval fantasy environment. However, that was part of her charm and I quickly recognized the game playing out on the screens. It wasn’t even necessary for me to look at the banners hanging from the ceiling exhibiting other girls wearing clothes that mixed the modern with the ancient, blending them into eye candy outfits that were entirely unsuitable for the battlefield.

Long legged, busty, and very beautiful, these girls were idealized versions of women.

Goddesses of battle dressed in revealing attire, wielding incredibly powerful ballistic weapons.

These girls were the Gun Princesses of the Princess Royale.

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