Volume 9, Opening X-01 - The Cowardly King Defeated

Volume 9, Opening X-01: The Cowardly King Defeated

“Oh, the Chinese food girl!!”

“I am not a housemaid. And don’t get up like that. I can see your boobs. Every bit of them.”

(Opening X-01 Open 08/20 14:00)

The Cowardly King Defeated

Toy Dream 35 was a giant amusement park city made from high-rise buildings jutting directly up from the ocean. At the very lowest level, there was a yacht harbor at the base of the buildings and several yachts, cruisers, motorboats, and more were moored there.

A groaning voice could be heard on one of those.

“Nnn.”

A woman with long silver hair lay face down on a beach chair she had dragged out onto a large cruiser’s deck. Every little movement produced a vivid change in the lines of her back and shoulder blades. She wore a black bikini, but with the top (which had a frilly cloth placed over it) untied, it was not clear if that qualified as “wearing” it. That exposed the line of her spine more than necessary. Her chest was fully protected by being softly squished between her body and the beach chair. The sun was blocked by more than just the fluffy cumulonimbus clouds. The many buildings and giant bridges chopped the summer sunlight to pieces, but she had found an unobstructed sunbeam to bathe in. With just the one ray hitting her with such pinpoint accuracy, it looked something like she was being fried in a solar cooker.

Her name was Meinokawa Aoi.

She was an artificial Joruri Method created to look just like the superior being known as the White Queen. Aoi was an artificial being but also a high-level vessel. She had gone to live with a certain summoner boy to avoid being attacked or stolen in the chaotic world created by the Queen’s death at the hands of the Colorless Little Girl. But at the time of that event, the real White Queen had taken her place and Aoi herself had not played much of a role. She was not quite sure what it meant that the Colorless Little Girl’s internal structure had been damaged by psychogenic shock after successfully killing the White Queen.

And yet…

“Gwohhh! I’m so bored. The fishing rod just sits there without getting a single bite and my host is busy being a pathetic coward.”

She kicked her bare feet around and said far more than a freeloader should, but she was not far from the truth. Shiroyama Kyousuke had been in an awful state ever since running across the White Queen and the supposedly dead Shigara Masami at the border of Eastern Europe’s Kingdom F. He had been sleeping ever since. He had been sulking and refusing to leave the bed. You just had to step inside the cruiser and take a peek inside the cabin. He was alone with such a pretty and sexy silver-haired girl, but he was hogging the entire double bed in complete violation of the ironclad “ladies first” rule. He never tried to peep on her in the bath and he did not stumble in on her while she was changing for a “kyah, pervert!” scene. When she put all her effort into a fabulous swimsuit apron ensemble, he completely ignored it. When she thought he was finally getting up, he just poured some cereal and milk in a bowl and ate it. What kind of summer was this? Wasn’t summer supposed to be an exciting mixture of love and desire? Meinokawa Aoi was about ready to kill him.

Then a visitor arrived at the gloomy cruiser.

“Hello, old-fashioned clockwork granny. No change in Kyousuke-chan I assume?”

“Oh, the Chinese food girl!!”

“I am not a housemaid. And don’t get up like that. I can see your boobs. Every bit of them.”

The silver-haired shrine maiden hopped up from the beach chair (with her long hair protecting the greatest secrets of the Joruri Method) like Pavlov’s dog. But what choice did she have when this modified China dress beauty named Lu Niang Lan always made such scrumptious food when she visited? “Oh, whoops”, said Aoi like usual as she reached behind her back to retie the strap to her black bikini top which had a frilly cloth on top.

“Are you here to see that host boy again? That will just bore you, so go make some food.”

“Heh heh. You still have a lot to learn about Kyousuke-chan, emotional android girl. The true Kyousuke-chan experts can adore him just by looking at him. So bow down to me or I won’t make you any food.”

“Yes, my mistress.”

The bikini beauty showed reverence like something from a samurai film and Lu Niang Lan walked in from the deck. It had a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom. If you ignored the cramped bath which give more room for the shower space, it was actually a more comfortable living space than a student apartment.

But the modified China dress beauty shivered from the chill of the excessive air conditioning inside the dimly lit cabin. She shut one eye and held her bangs back with a hand.

“He’s rotting away in here, isn’t he? I thought it was supposed to be August.”

“See, what did I tell you? He has none of the love and desire needed for a proper summer break. Don’t think I haven’t been trying my best. I went with the Ama-no-Iwato strategy based in the history and traditions of a shrine maiden, but this limp-dicked bastard hasn’t reacted at all!! That really hurts!!”

“You might not think it by looking at him, but Kyousuke-chan has some childish delusions about girls. Act too openly around him and he might find it obscene.”

“Tch! If you knew what he liked, you should have told me!! So I should have gone the pure lady course with a wide-brimmed white hat and a long dress!!”

“You need to be careful so he doesn’t mistake your silhouette for the White Queen. Do you want to dig back up his trauma with your smile, you hunk of junk?”

They were complaining while approaching the double bed, but the lump in the blankets did not move in the slightest. Freedom Award 903, Alice (with) Rabbit, had even the top of his head covered. He was acting more like the tortoise than the hare.

It was true the events at the border of Eastern Europe’s Kingdom F had been shocking.

The world’s largest army had not been the problem. He had made short work of them, devoted a lot of his strength to stopping the Colorless Little Girl’s rampage, and then been helpless when the White Queen appeared before him without warning. Shiroyama Kyousuke might have died there if not for the intervention of Shigara Masami who had the ridiculous accomplishment of reaching Freedom Award 3000.

And more than that…

“Was it really that much of a shock?”

Lu Niang Lan did not hesitate to sit on the edge of the bed the boy was sleeping in. She crossed her long legs and spoke back over her shoulder.

“That your teacher, Shigara Masami, took the White Queen’s side, I mean.”

Facts:

*After the events at the border of Eastern Europe’s Kingdom F, Shiroyama Kyousuke has stayed in bed out of shock.

*Meinokawa Aoi, who looks abnormally similar to the White Queen, is hiding in Kyousuke’s cruiser so she is not attacked or stolen during the chaos as the world breaks down.

*Meinokawa Aoi was wearing a bikini as part of an Ama-no-Iwato strategy meant to snap Shiroyama Kyousuke out of it, but her plan failed.

*Lu Niang Lan has already successfully won over Meinokawa Aoi using food.

*Shigara Masami, Freedom Award 3000 and the person who once survived a hell by shifting from one world to the other, chose the White Queen’s side after saving Kyousuke.