SIX ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 2: i AM the opportunity

Katsuki Bakugo

Waking up in the palace bedroom felt like a fucking fever dream. A slight knock on the door had woken me, and the butler had come in brandishing a few notes for me. The first was the most interesting, saying that I was to meet Prince Shoto formally in his private quarters at 5pm, for my allotted hour with him today. He had requested everyone wear different colour suits, hence the purple that has been laid out for me last night. I didn't mind, he didn't seem like he knew many people his age and was probably feeling pretty awkward about remembering names. It pissed me off a little that I'd have to wear purple, but it was better than it could have been, I suppose.

I was allowed access only to my area of the wing, the Prince not wanting the rest of us to mingle and fight over him, which made sense. It's a relief, cause I can bet he'd be marrying that fucking giant of a guy if we were to fight. I wanted noooo business fighting him, he'd snap me in two. My family had always been wealthy enough to feed us well, but I could hedge a bet that it wasn't the same story for some of these guys. Certainly the black haired kid and the weird broccoli-top seemed a little malnourished, and the clothes they'd shown up in were torn a little.

The day passed relatively quickly, and soon it was 3:30pm. I showered under a luscious stream of piping hot water, savouring every moment of the warmth, before stepping out onto the cold tiles below. Fucking hate February, what a useless fucking month! I was shivering like crazy when I slipped my suit on, checking myself out in the mirror like I was in some advertisement for some new eau de parfum or some shit.

Truth be told, I was nervous. Sure, I wasn't too bothered if I married the Prince or not, but my competitive streak was about to come out in full force, and, at 4:55, when the butler returned to walk me to the door, I took a deep breath, and stepped forward with determination, eager to try my hand with the Prince.

The butler very quietly knocked on a large door at the end of the hallway, and slowly opened the door, gesturing me forward. I walked forward a lot more timidly than I'd have liked to, all my confidence suddenly abandoning me, and saw Prince Shoto sat on a chair facing his bed. Strange positioning... I thought, before announcing myself and bowing.

"Please, Katsuki. None of that formal shit, come sit on the bed."

I was a little taken aback by his casual words, and slowly walked over to sit right on the edge of the bed, respecting the fact that it was where a royal slept.

"Now, Katsuki, tell me a little about yourself~" Prince Shoto said, taking his notepad and pen and turning to the next page. I saw a bunch of stuff written down on the page that was for another of the boys, which fuelled me with both determination and concern about how he had got along with the others.

"Yes, Prince Shoto. I-"

"Katsukiiiiii~. I'm dying here, just Shoto is fine, please!" he said with a playful grin, before adding "I've had five whole hours of people calling me Prince Shoto, your highness, etc. Please don't make it six!"

"R-right, sorry yo-....um, Shoto. I-I live in the south, working at a convenience store in a small town, with my parents..I'm an only child, so I never really had any company when I was younger, umm..." I trailed off, realising that whatever I was saying was definitely not interesting. I looked up to see that Shoto was making a couple of notes, which was both comforting and alarming at the same time. Comforting because I knew he was paying attention to me, alarming because what on earth could he possibly have written from what I said?

"Ok...let's get straight to the juicy stuff, shall we? Any past relationships~? We need to know for security reasons and such, just procedure.." he said with a little smirk. He seemed a lot more playful when you caught him on his own, almost like the image of a quiet kid was suppressing all this personality behind him.