The Emperor's Empress

Chapter 5:

Keiko woke up early because she had an appointment with the red emperor. She had to play shogi to find out if they would help them in practicing. She would love to see him lose once more because Akashi hated losing the most. Yesterday was a first and she would have loved to have another one.

She already told the girls about this and they agreed with it. It was just a fair game after all. She yawned as she walked through the corridors of the school. It was so damn early for her but she was not the person who would back down.

She opened the classroom door and she saw him sitting in his chair a shogi board in his desk and they were already arranged. She greeted him and grabbed the chair in front of his desk and sat on it. She looked at the pieces and thought that would be one hell of a match and she was excited.

"Let's start before your match starts," she said and he nodded.

An hour later, they stood up and shook hands. Yep, it took them an hour to wrap up the game. The winner was no one other than Keiko. She was a genius at this. Ha! Just kidding. She just loved playing shogi since she was a kid and she knew already any counterattack whatever the player moves.

"My friends and I agreed to give you three free practice matches. That's the consolation for the long game. I had fun and it was the first time someone didn't get annihilated before the fifteen minute mark." She informed him.

Akashi looked at Keiko. "You won. Why would you give us free matches?" he asked reserved.

Keiko knew he was mad at himself for losing the second time to the same person. She smiled. "Because my girls have soft hearts," she replied. Akashi nodded then opened the door. "You can just inform me or any of my friends, if you would like to accept them," she said again.

Keiko sat in her chair and rested her head that ache from all the thinking she had done in the game. She didn't notice she fell asleep.

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Someone shook Keiko's body to wake her up. She groaned then opened her eyes to see the girls hovering around her.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"You slept the whole morning period. And you are in the infirmary because apparently no one in your class could wake you up," Rina remarked.

"And who gave you this?" Honey pointed at the single red rose in Keiko's side.

Keiko looked at it curiously. "I don't know. If apparently no one woke me up in my class then evidently I wouldn't know who gave me this rose," she answered them.

"It's not Akashi, right?" Libbie asked.