❦

     breakfast was chaotic.

aelita had briefly read about her family tree the night before, but the books surely did not capture their true personalities.

"MUM, I WANT THE BACON!!", chīsana — the third and youngest princess — yelled.

"chīsana! you're too loud!!", irma — the first princess and oldest child of the naruse family — reprimanded.

"mummm!! irma's being stinky againnn!!", chīsana whined.

     an irk mark had appeared on the brown-haired girl's forehead, as she clenched onto her silverware.

     "chīsana, you little—"

"now now, irma, chīsana, your food is going to get cold", misaki — the one and only queen of the naruse kingdom — interrupted.

both girls huffed, as aelita was quite amused, since the girl was an only child in real life.

     the blonde girl awkwardly glanced up from her dish, seeing that sukuna was standing guard on the right of the king, meanwhile getō was on the left.

     the dark-haired advisor had caught the second princess's stare, displaying a small smile, as aelita quickly adverted her gaze.

"aelita darling, is the food not to your liking? you're barely eating", misaki stated, causing all eyes to be on the girl.

the head chef ever so slightly flinched, as aelita had swiftly shook her head.

"it's not that...mother...I'm just not too hungry, that's all", aelita mumbled.

     "are you alright, aelita? you look like you haven't been getting much sleep, and you look thinner than usual! is something the matter?", misaki worried.

     'yes. I'm stuck in a virtual reality game with no clue on how the story will go', aelita wanted to desperately say.

     "indeed. should we cancel your lessons for the rest of the week?", hotaru asked.

     "no need, da—father. I'm perfectly fine", aelita smiled, slicing her ham, as she also ate some of her scrambled eggs.

     it was slightly hard for the girl to adjust to the corset that was now wrapped around her waist, keeping her posture upright, as it refused to allow a single moment of slouching.

"oh I know what it is~", misaki grinned, causing everyone to look at the queen.

"w-what is it?", aelita nervously asked.

     "it must be a boy!!", misaki declared.

     "a boy?", hotaru questioned.

     "A BOY?!", chīsana and irma both shouted in sync.

     "not a boy!! my lady's not ready for boys yet!", gojō sobbed, as getō had discreetly elbowed the man, causing the king to lightly chuckle.

"I—"

"ah, so that's why one of my knights had asked for the afternoon off", itadori sukuna — the older brother of itadori yūji, and the head commander of the naruse knights — had chimed in.

hotaru and misaki suddenly gasped.

"really? who is it, sukuna?", hotaru asked.

"it's fu—"

"it's nobody", aelita quickly intervened.

"I-I'm not interested in him like that anyways. I mean...I am? but not really....you know...", aelita confusingly mumbled, feeling more and more embarrassed, as hotaru had nodded.

     "I see...I believe what aelita's trying to say is that we should just let them progress by themselves. I'm sure there'll be other suitors as well for our dear aelita, so we shouldn't be closed off to just one option", hotaru analyzed.

     "makes sense!! our darling aelita's just as wonderful as her sisters. I'm sure that there'll be more boys to come!", misaki agreed.

     "no wait, you both got the wrong ide—"

     "my lady's going to be a heartbreaker! oh dear", gojō playfully sighed.

     "a heartbreaker? why would aelita break people's hearts?", chīsana asked, as misaki just pinched her cheeks.

     "it just means that our aelita's growing up", misaki briefly answered.

"and speaking of which, we must prepare for aelita's debut, dear!"

"oh how could I forget?! aelita's coming of age ceremony needs preparation now!", hotaru stated.

     "debut?", aelita hesitantly asked.

     "why or course, darling!! you turn sixteen this upcoming july! we need to start preparing now!", misaki stressed.

     "but it's only march!", chīsana said.

     "don't speak with your mouth full!", irma reprimanded, to which that had caused the youngest princess to stick her tongue out.

     "we've got many things to organize though. suguru, would you mind helping?", hotaru asked.

     "of course, your majesty", the dark-haired male answered.

     "perfect. why don't you and aelita plan together throughout the process, so that she's ready and prepared", hotaru commanded.

     "dutifully noted".

     "and aelita, don't hesitate to let suguru know what you want. it's your ball, an important one at that", hotaru said.

     "o-oh...thank you, father".

     "now, I have work to do; excuse me", hotaru stated.

     "may I also be excused, mother? kento and I are scheduled to spend the day together", irma reminded.

     nanami kento — the fiancé of irma — was a punctual man. tardiness was not tolerated, quite unlike his workmate: gojō.

      "of course. aelita and chīsana, you two may be excused as well", misaki said, as she elegantly stood up after dabbing her mouth with a napkin.

each princess had their own private instructor who acted as their personal attendant as well, as chīsana's was iori utahime.

the youngest princess quickly ran off with iori hastily following her, trying not to shout, but failing to contain her distress.

irma had already left, as now it was just gojō, aelita, the chefs, and the maids.

"milady, shall we attend our first lesson of the day now?", gojō asked, escorting aelita out of the dining hall, as maki and mai had followed.

"sure", aelita smiled.

͙⁺˚*･༓☾‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

after hours and hours of lessons over languages, arithmetic, drawing, etiquette, and music, aelita was finally done for the day, which was the perfect time for tea and biscuits.

     "milady, should I call for megumi now?", gojō asked, smoothly spilling the jasmine tea into the plain white teacup that was decorated with golden swirls.

     "mm...but I asked for him to accompany me on an afternoon walk. would he be okay having tea with me instead?", aelita worried.

gojō then patted aelita's head, careful not to mess up her wavy locks.

     "anybody would be honored to have tea with you, princess. now please excuse me, as I go retrieve him for you", gojō smiled.

     leaving aelita with only maki and mai, the younger of the twin had snickered, causing the princess to snap her head around.

     "mai, shut it", maki harshly whispered.

     "I-I'm sorry, a-aelita. it's just that I've never seen you so flustered before", mai laughed.

"flustered? I would say that I'm more perplexed if anything. I'm not very good at people relationships", aelita honestly admitted.

"please excuse her, aelita. mai's just joking", maki stated, glaring at her twin, who had just scoffed.

"it's quite alright. I prefer if you'd loosen up around me as well, maki. after all, I did say that I'd hope we become close friends", aelita said.

     maki's eyes ever so slightly widened. though before she could reply, a sing-song voice was heard.

     "look who I brought~"

     "greetings, your highness", fushiguro bowed, to which aelita had immediately stood up, almost tipping back her chair.

     "ah, fushiguro-kun, I hope you don't mind that our plans have slightly changed...", aelita said.

     "no worries, your highness. mr. gojō had explained everything to me", fushiguro assured.

aelita then glanced over at gojō, who had discreetly flashed the princess a thumbs up, as he obnoxiously cleared his throat.

the zen'in twins had then dipped their heads, excusing themselves along with gojō, as fushiguro had begrudgingly taken a seat across from aelita after she did.

two cups of jasmine tea had already been poured, as aelita pertained her upright posture, even though her nerves were overtaking her once steady hands.

"umm...so...how was training?", aelita started, trying her best to make conversation.

"good", fushiguro bluntly responded.

the blonde girl gently nodded, taking a quick sip of the warm liquid, as her gaze occasionally diverted from the plants around her to the charming boy in front of her.

"did I...perhaps interrupt your training?", aelita asked.

"no, why would your highness think so?", the dark-haired boy questioned, avoiding the tea and biscuits.

"I heard from uhh...the head commander this morning that one of his knights-in-training was cutting practice short, so..."

"training is everyday, while a request from your highness is not", fushiguro straightforwardly answered.

aelita could only nod once more, as she wasn't too bright at conversing like misa was.

gripping the cup of tea, the girl had suddenly insisted on fushiguro trying the beverage as well.

"it's specially brewed by gojō-sensei", aelita murmured, watching fushiguro hesitantly meet the edge of the cup to his parched lips, as he consumed the liquid.

"is it to your liking?", she asked.

"very much so", fushiguro replied.

"then I shall ask gojō-sensei to make some more in the future!", aelita quickly followed up, to which she had momentarily paused.

"I mean...for me! but not that you can't join me or anything!! you can if you want; it's just that I don't want you to feel that you're forced to because I'm the princess or anything", aelita rambled.

     'wow, I'm really not good at this...he looks disturbed...'

     "are you sure?"

     "hm?"

     it took aelita a moment to process the boy's words, before she could fully respond like a functional human being.

     "o-oh! of course!! and please, refer to me as aelita. I know it's weird, as maki and mai are still getting used to it, but I insist. after all, it's weird having people call you 'your highness' all the time", aelita said.

     "but with that being said, I don't mean that you're weird for calling me that! not at all..."

     fushiguro slightly tilted his head towards the side, as the back of his hand had shielded the unconventional smile that had seeped its way onto his usually stoic face.

aelita even cracked a small, slightly less anxious, smile, as she could hear soft puffs of laughter emerge from the dark-haired boy.

"then please excuse me for what I'm about to call you...aelita".

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• affection meter:
- gojō satoru: 25% + 5% = 30%
- getō suguru: 0% + 2% = 2%
- itadori sukuna: 0% + 1% = 1%

• romance meter:
- itadori yūji: 0%
- fushiguro megumi: 3% + 7% = 10%
- secret target: 0%