In Lockstep

“You will not talk to me like that, Captain.” Idalec stopped pointing a finger at her,

“Or what?” Luna snarled, right before an invisible force pressed down on her. The wooden floor should have cracked under the immense pressure pushing down on Luna. “ER.” Luna managed as she was forced to the ground by an invisible force,

“You will be crushed by your own hubris, Captain.” Idalec released the spell. Idalec then started walking again; Luna walked a few steps further back.

Idalec found that he was the fourth person in the room; Garia, Miki, and Sunya were already seated, with Garia reading some book aloud in a foreign language. “Morning.” Idalec greeted the three before sitting down.

“Good morning...” Sunya said distractedly as her mouth kept silently mouthing words over and over again.

“It’s a pleasant morning to meet you, Idalec and-” Garia flawlessly switched from whatever language she was speaking before, “-Luna…” Garia said with distaste, before continuing normally, “A lovely morning indeed to meet and share with the two of you.”

“Why have friends in this world when you can have enemies like you?” Luna laughed.

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, your king greets all of you!” Sato burst into the room, slamming the doors open, wearing the same filthy outfit from yesterday. Prix was standing behind Sato. She made a hand motion, flicking her hand to the right, and once she spotted what she was looking for, she quickly walked to catch up to Sato. “Chat, I didn’t keep you waiting for too long, right?” Sato asked, spinning into his throne. “Lowkey I don’t have anythi-” Sato started as the seven senators walked in. “Friends, Romans, countrymen, your king greets you.”

“Morning, Sato,” Marcus said

“King Sato.” Sato raised a finger. Marcus and the other senators sat down, not reacting.

Prix sat down right beside Sato’s throne. “So, Sato, we all wanted to talk about the captured demon prisoners today.”

“Yeah,” all the senators agreed, nodding along,

“Right Idalec? Sunya, Garia, and Miki?” Prix looked over,

“Yes!” Miki said unenthusiastically,

“I do believe that some words… should be said,” Garia said, bookmarking her book before closing it.

“Master wanted to talk about it~” Sunya said happily,

‘Why does this all feel so phony?’ Idalec wondered, looking around suspiciously,

“Idalec, you also were dying to talk about the demon prisoners, right?” Prix asked again,

“Yeah.” Idalec lied, ‘Is this what goodness is? This can’t be.’

“Oh yeah.” Sato said excitedly, “I actually wanted to talk about prisoners- first.” sounding self important,

“But you see, Sato-” Marcus said, standing up. “Since the evil demons took over our city, we will need someone righteous, someone honorable to judge them for their crimes.” Marcus was looking right at Sato as he spoke,

“Me?” Sato asked, getting red,

“We need a judge to be chosen amongst us.” Marcus, now standing in the middle of the circle, slowly rotated around, facing everyone. “But there is a problem!” Marcus said dramatically once he was facing Sato again, like he was sort of an actor,

“What’s the problem?” Sato asked, worried,

“That the king of Rome can not judge demons who are not Roman!” Marcus said,

“That’s bullshit.” Sato pouted as he sat back into his throne, “Judges are cringe anyway. Don’t you think, Sunya?” Sato looked over to Sunya, who was burning holes into Prix with her eyes,

“So who among us would like to be a Judge?” Marcus announced dramatically,

There was a moment of silence where nobody raised their hands, causing Sato to smirk, “Se-”

“I would!” A random senator raised his hand. “I would!” came another, and just like that all the senators, one by one, raised their hands; they timed it so that each man had two seconds of silence before the next one would raise their hand and announce that they wanted to be a judge.

“Whate-” Sato rolled his eyes,

“I would~” Sunya said once Prix gave her a signal. Sunya practically jumped out of her seat, waving her hand in Maruc’s face,

“What!” Sato yelled out,

“I would also like to be considered to be a judge.” Prix raised her hand,

“Me… too.” Miki raised her arm. Sato turned from Prix to Miki,

With Sato’s attention away, Prix mouthed over to Idalec. ‘You next!’

“I would like to be a judge.” Idalec raised his hand like everyone else.

“I also want to be a judge!” Sato jumped out of his throne, raising his hand,

“Hmmm~” Luna laughed. “Me too.” Luna raised her hand,

“Well, I would also like to be considered as a judge. If you wouldn’t mind.” Garia breathed out, raising her hand,

“But I’m the best person in the whole wide world! I should be the judge!” Sato walked up to Marcus, who was still slowly turning. “I should be the judge! Pick me!”

Marcus stopped to face Sato. “Well, I did say that a judge can not be king…” he trailed off, giving the floor to Sato,

“I don’t even want to be king.” Sato whined, “It was a joke. I want to be a judge!”

“Well, everyone wants to be a judge,” Marcus said, spreading his hands and motioning to everyone in the room who had their hands raised.

“Bu-” Sato started to complain,

“We should run a lottery!” Prix said dramatically, putting her hand to her chest as she stood up,

“A lottery?” Marcus said with expected disbelief,

“That’s crap!” Sato stomped, “I just want to be a judge!”

“Well, the angels will pick the most righteous amongst us?” Prix suggested to Sato,

“I agree; let us hold a lottery,” was the sentiment echoed by all the senators.

The whole room suddenly went silent as Sunya coughed, catching Sato’s attention. “Master is sooo lucky and honorable; the angels will definitely pick you~.”

“You're right, Sunya,” Sato said, stroking his chin,

“Don’t you think that it’s a good idea as well, Idalec?” Prix asked pointedly,

“Yes.” Idalec said shortly, ‘There’s almost something enjoyable about watching this little play.’

“Well- I guess I can agree to it,” Sato said tentatively,