Evig nat, vi er borte / Evig nat, vi er væk

Scratched across the desk was the condemnation, 'What are you, stupid?'.

He yawned, stretching visibly, feeling the crack in his chest where his collarbones met the sternum and thought that maybe this was what getting old might be like. Idly, he turned his head from side to side and looked out of the window at the empty schoolyard, wondering what he would be like in the future, what the world would be like when he finally become king.

The thought cased a goofy grin to spring up on his lips and the suddenness of it surprised him.

"What?" a voice asked, the shape of a body turning in the chair in front of him. "What's so funny, Sougo?"

He turned from the window to see the stern expression worn by his classmate, her body pivoted in her seat so she could look at him, her fringe of dark hair almost too long, almost in her eyes.

"Say, Tsukuyomi, what's your dream?" he asked with sudden enthusiasm.

She looked at him blankly for a long moment.

"To graduate," she said, deadpan, "or, failing that, world peace."

He grinned, not really listening.

"Guess what my dream is?"

With a show of impatience, she rolled her eyes, and when she spoke she drew his name out into two sounds, emphasising the Sou- and making the -go sound heavier than it would had she been pronouncing his name properly.

"Sou-go, everyone knows your dream. You wrote it on your test."

He grinned goofily back and she scowled.

"It's not funny. You need to get serious if you're going to get into a good university."

Languidly, Tokiwa Sougo leant back in his chair, lifting the front legs from the floor and pivoting, his hands behind his head.

"Kings don't need to go university," he beamed.

Tsukuyomi's eyes narrowed.

"Idiots don't graduate from high school," she said coldly and turned away, her hair swishing behind her with the sharpness of her movement.

He continued to smile dreamily, enjoying this moment of aimlessness and wanting for nothing more. And yet, sensing that he was being scrutinised, he turned his head slowly to Myokoin Geiz scowling sullenly, uncomfortable looking in his uniform, as if the clothes were somehow a constraint to him and he preferred the freedom of movement granted by his gi.

He met the other's smile with a grin, throwing the other boy a quick 'v' sign with his right hand, his left hand steading him by holding onto the corner of the desk so he did not completely fall backwards.

Geiz said nothing, scowling and turning away, and, again, Tokiwa Sougo turned to the window.

It was a good life, he thought, despite all the little things that irked him, it was a good life.

The call of voices caught his attention, and, engaged in avid discussion he saw two students from the class below, voices raised now and again, words punctuated with smiles and adamant shakes of the head as they carried armfuls of books with them, probably heading towards the new mobile classrooms around the back of the school, he thought to himself.

A year younger, Ora was the sterner of the two, her hair held back by a white hairband, her expression only faltering in the presence of Tsukuyomi. He nodded to himself. They made a cute couple, the two sternest girls in Hikarigamori High School. He found it amusing that, when in the company of one another, neither girl really knew what to say, their cheeks flushed with warm blushes and their words jumbled and confused.

People do strange things around those they like, he thought, and smile again, thinking himself very wise for having formulated such a thought.

Her companion, Uhr, was a little more forthcoming, always ready with a knowing comment, the suggestion of something that might mean something but, equally, might not. There had been some consternation amongst the staff about Uhr's alternating uniforms, eir casual adoption of girl's uniform one day and boy's the next. Today, he noted wryly, was a girl's day, brown pleats and white blouse. He liked the way they looked after each, he thought that was quite noble, and he considered himself something of an expert when it came to spying nobility.

Slowly, he turned his attention away from them, staring out at the branches of the autumnal trees, the blue of the skies above. This time next year, once he had graduated high school and was out in the world, what would he be like, who would he be like; this time, 50 years in the future, what kind of world would he be responsible for shaping?

He thought suddenly of a throne of golden light, an impossible presence at the very end of time, waiting in-between realms for him, waiting for him to make the right decisions, to be the one to ascend up the steps that led to it; to preside over all possible time and space, a monarch without peers, an absolute authority in all things.

What would it take, he thought to achieve such power; what would it take to wield such majesty?

The wooden door of the classroom slid noisily open and their form teacher, Ms. Abe, straight-backed and bespectacled marched into the room, silencing the disparate voices of the classroom. The overly warm room filled with the sound of bums sliding off desks and chairs being scrapped backwards once and then forwards.

His bored eyes drifted over the neat bun of hair protruding from the back of her teacher's head, the clipboard clasped to her chest and the broad-shouldered woman's business suit, and, with a yawn, he lowered his chair down once more.

One day, all this would be over; one day, this would be like a dream, a hazy memory of a time before his coronation, his unending rule.

He watched as Ms. Abe began to speak, gesturing hastily at the blackboard with large fingers, and, yet, in his mind, all he could of was that throne of golden light, waiting for the past to catch up to the moment in which it existed.