Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 4-6) ✓

211 | Royal Underlings

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KEIGO WAS STANDING ALONE in the stadium, holding onto his chest as he watched the battle on the large screen. He was there because all the underlings were asked to stay in their brotherhood's base during the battle. Unfortunately for Keigo, he was the only official underling of PHD, while the other official underling of Busters was busy holding hands with his boyfriend at the auditorium.

     "The new ranking will be posted in ten...night...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two..."

      Keigo held onto his breath as the screen changed to white. After a quick second, the new rank was finally shown.

     "Busters, 20 points. As expected, they did this battle perfectly," Keigo said as Busters's name was shown on the screen first with a perfect score of 20 points.

     Keigo then sighed in relief when he saw PHD ranking second with a score of 18 points. And then the rest of the brotherhoods followed. He couldn't help but put a smile on his face as he watched BND and the others rank high on the list. But as soon as he saw a particular brotherhood name, Keigo's heart instantly dropped.

     RANK 18: DYNASTIES ↓3

     Keigo checked it again, and again, and again, before finally letting everything sink in.     

     "S-Shit...shit!" Keigo shouted, immediately turning away from the screen and running out of the stadium. "Where the fuck is Gavriil?! Joon's gonna kill us!"

     [A few months ago]

     "Kawanishi Keigo, you are standing in front of the leaders of the kings and princes. Show some respect," someone from PHD suddenly stated, making Keigo flinch before bending down to give the royals a proper greeting.

      "Yes! I-It is my...amazing...I mean...honor! T-to...be here," Keigo nervously said before looking back at Viktor Stepanov and Kim Hee-Joon, who were sitting on their thrones on stage.

     The two of them didn't say anything back, so Keigo swallowed the lump in his throat before looking around the stadium. The members of PHD and Busters were surrounding him, so he couldn't really move a muscle.

     Keigo just got back to school recently. He got tangled up with his father's criminal case and almost got sent to jail on his behalf. But for some reason, someone bailed him out, and so he was able to go back to school. He wasn't entirely excited though since he has held back a year thanks to this unfortunate event, but he's still very much thrilled to finally start school normally again.

     Well, that was until a bunch of royals kidnapped him at the lockers during PE class and dragged him here at the stadium.

     "I'm sorry, but...w-why am I here?" Keigo finally asked.

     Viktor adjusted from his seat, making Keigo flinch again. The king saw his reaction, so he ended up laughing at him. "You must have been surprised, Kawanishi Keigo," Viktor said with a smirk on his face. "How was the case with your father? I'm glad things worked out in the end."

     "How did you know about that?" Keigo asked confusingly.

     "Probably the same way I know that you're an indirect member of the Takemitsu Clan," Viktor revealed next, instantly making Keigo's jaw drop because his connection to that family was almost erased. "Your cousins with Hiro, right? Crème de la Crème's rank 12. Oh, he's ranked 11 now, if I recall. I met him once when we were kids. He was a very interesting fellow."

     "What do you want with me?" Keigo asked once again, but with a much more serious tone this time, making the king grin.

     "Oh, so you have some balls in you after all," Viktor says before throwing something at him. Keigo was startled, but he caught the item before it fell to the ground. He then looked at the palm of his hand and realized that what Viktor gave him was actually a silver brooch, similar to the gold brooch that Joon and the other members of PHD were wearing.