How We Met Again

Chapter 16: The Midst of the Storm

You and I need to have ourselves a little chat.

The blond boy sitting across the table from me seemed strung tight, like a spring compressed too far, and all of its energy converted to potential -- a tiger waiting to leap forth at me. His hands were firmly pressed into the table as though stabilizing himself, and his eyes blazed with a quiet rage that I didn't quite understand. His jaw was firmly set, the corners of his mouth set downwards into a stiff frown, and I could practically taste the hostility radiating off of him. I eyed the ticking time bomb before me, and then elected to vocalize the main thought that was crossing through my mind in that moment.

"Sorry, who are you?"

The boy seemed stunned by that response, as if he hadn't expected it. He lifted his hands off the table and crossed them over his chest as though protecting himself from some kind of assault -- an inherently defensive posture. Closed off, he leaned back in the chair, his eyebrows furrowed.

"You seriously have no clue who I am?"

"Nope. Enlighten me," I said, dismissively looking back down at my flash cards.

He sniffed disdainfully.

"I see, so even the great Uesugi Fuutarou has things he doesn't know."

I looked back up at him, my face completely blank. It was painfully obvious that the boy was (clumsily) trying to rile me up.

But... why?

"Never seen you before in my life. Am I supposed to know who you are?"

The boy quivered, the spring he resembled seeming to tighten even further. Then, he gritted his teeth, and almost hissed as he spoke.

"My name is Takeda Yuusuke. I'm the man who stands in second place in our year, and the one who will surpass you, my rival. I will show the world that I won't be a perpetual footnote to some commoner."

I looked at him blankly.

Commoner...?

Then, the tone and the words seemed to click into place in my head, and the penny dropped.

"Oh! You're Second Place-san."

I thought I saw a vein twitch in his face. It was an interesting effect, and I idly noted that I didn't think I'd ever seen that happen in a real person before.

"Excuse me...? What did you just call me?!"

I looked back down at my flashcards. "You know, the Kazoku was abolished in 1947. Japan doesn't have an aristocracy anymore. So you're just as much of a commoner as I am."

Then I looked back up at him.

"So, you know... unless you're over seventy years old, we have the exact same commoner status. With that in mind, that's a bit of an odd thing to call someone."

I paused, and then added,

"If you are over seventy years old, then first of all let me register my astonishment... and compliment you on how well you've aged."

"What? That's obviously not what I meant," scowled the blond boy. "I meant--"

"Oh, were you referring to the way some rich people are referred to as 'elites', or as the 'new aristocracy'? That's quite the silly basis to refer to someone else as a commoner. After all, those titles are just metaphors. They aren't meant to be taken literally."

"Listen here, you--"

I squinted at him.

"Yes?"

"You're not one of the elites who will rule this country. You're just some nobody with no money and no connections. That makes you a commoner."