Some time later, Ishiki stood outside a large door... well, larger than any other door in this school building. It used to be the principles office, not much time ago, but now it was a, war room or whatever they call it in the military.
He leaned against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. With a grimace, he sighed, 'Why am i even here? don't they realize I just came today and on top of that I am a nobody.'
After some time a group of people walked past him, one of them whispered something to the other and they laughed. More people passed by, whispering and sparing him a look, making him feel like an exhibit in a zoo.
Ishiki's jaw tightened with irritation, 'The next person who passes by and laughs, I swear I'll—'
The door opened.
"Ishiki." Kaori stood in the doorway with a glistering smile, gesturing for him to enter. "Come on."
He gulped and subsided his anger and then stepped inside.
The room was dead silent, it felt... awkward.
There were twelve people sited in the room, six on both sides a large table made up of salvaged desks, a map laid at the center of the desks, filled with markings. And between the rows of the six people, with a perfect smile on her face sat the princess.
The smile felt like it was painted on her face. It gave Ishiki the creeps, and for some reason the inside of the room was somewhat... colder than the outside.
Then his eyes caught the princess's pink pupils looking at him, and for a second he froze.
She looked mesmerizing up close, ravishing even. The light from the wall mounted LED's caught in her pink hair and her skin, made them glow like polished ivory. She was beautiful in more than one ways and pleasing to look at.
He forced himself to stop dwelling there. 'Get your thoughts straight idiot!'
Kaori's voice cut through the silence. "This is Ishiki Senju. He returned from his trial today, too." She paused, and Ishiki felt every eye in the room lock onto him. "He even got a Title..."
As soon as she said that line... Ishiki could feel the pressure inside the room change. Even the princess stirred, but didn't react as much as the others.
One of the man on the left of the princess let out a small giggle and stood up. He was a middle aged man with some grey hair. "It is a pleasure to have you here, young man. May I ask you what your title is. To be honest, i am little curious. So far i have only seen two people with a title and both of them left this settlement early on."
He paused and then looked at Ishiki with a hesitant smile. "Ah... so, you should understand how valuable the ones with a title are."
Ishiki remained silent, looking down and analyzing... how trust worthy other humans could be. And then somewhere it hit him that the man said that the two people with title already left the settlement.
He glanced over at kaori, who hesitantly turned her head away. 'Yeah... she didn't tell them and got me in this mess somehow.'
To him, revealing his Title was not so simple. His original title must remain hidden and for the fake one. It wasn't especially advantageous for more people to know about it. A lie can get you killed eventually.
Considering all his options, he finally gave his answer. "I would prefer not to."
The man who was standing up and had given that speech to encourage or manipulate him, sat down after listening to his reply. A sense of anger could be seen evident on his face.
Some of the twelve people exchanged glances, clearly suspicious and hostile towards him.
"But I can assure you, I won't leave this settlement." Ishiki announced.
Then the princess studied him for a second and gave a nod with a pleasing smile. "That's perfectly alright. We all have secrets we want to keep. Your presence here is enough."
That should have made him feel... at ease, but for some reason those words felt deeply wrong. Ishiki felt a chill running down his spine.
He tried looking away from the princess and then noticed Kaori pointing at an empty seat besides her, all the while looking on the other side.
Ishiki greeted her teeth, 'This woman... I think i will murder her. Then no one will know about my title.' He simply walked and sat besides her.
The room was once again enveloped in the same silence, heavy and morphed. But this time the princess broke it with an announcement.
The placed both her pale hands on the table and then glanced at each of them, after a while she spoke.
"Actually... I got a Title too and its a Mythical Rank."