[Summer; Jousting] Hero of Another Story 2.2
Previous
The rest of the group had fallen asleep in the little guest house that night, but Keito couldn’t sleep. Not just yet anyway. Quietly, he navigated his way past the sleeping bodies of his friends until he made it to the door, careful not to wake anyone. Once he was outside, his eyes adjusted to the light from the stars and the moon enough to allow him to find a nice grassy spot to lie down on. He never got a chance to see stars in Tokyo. He had almost forgotten how beautiful those twinkly-looking spots actually were.
He was feeling anxious about the impending tournament. It felt almost like the ants that had crawled up Inoo’s nose earlier were now crawling around in his stomach. Keito wanted to do his best, but he wasn’t sure his best was good enough. He could go through the motions in theory, but once he was out in front of a cheering crowd, he didn’t believe he would be able to pull everything together.
“Hey,” a voice spoke from behind him. He tilted his head a bit to see Chinen walking towards him. He lay down on the ground beside him, wiggling a bit as he got comfortable.
“Couldn’t sleep either?” Keito asked.
“You kicked me by accident when you left earlier.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
Chinen laughed. “It’s okay. Are you worried again?”
“Worried that I might embarrass or injure myself in front of a bunch of people tomorrow? No, of course not,” Keito said sarcastically. “It’s not like I always do that or anything.” He stared at the moon above him, bright like a giant balloon in the sky. He sort of wished he could grab onto that balloon and float away.
Chinen was uncharacteristically quiet for a moment. Keito looked over to him and could see the stars reflected in his dark eyes. Keito was so focused on Chinen’s face that he didn’t notice the arm that swung out and hit him in the stomach until it was too late.
“What was that for?” he asked with a cough to catch his breath.
“You need to have more confidence. You’re way too hard on yourself. The negativity is sad.”
“My negativity is based on true life experiences.”
“Really?” Chinen snorted. “You’re gonna let a few bad experiences get you down? You were actually really good in practice today. Why can’t you see that?”
Chinen sat up and looked quite upset in the pale moonlight reflecting off of his skin. “And you think you have a bunch of failings? You think that because you miss a few dance steps, a few music notes, and stumble over a few words that you’re not any good at anything?”
Keito didn’t say anything to interrupt the sudden lecture.
“Should I remind you that I’m not perfect either? Remember that time I would have drowned in Hawaii if Takaki hadn’t been there to pull me out? Remember that I still don’t have a license to drive because I’m actually too scared to? Remember that I used to be so shy on film sets that I played with duct tape instead of actually talking to people? Yeah, I have flaws too, but I don’t let them stop me from doing things. You’re talented too.”
“Why are you yelling at me?” Keito asked. He leaned away a bit because he’d never seen Chinen get very angry about anything. But he knew deep down that Chinen was right about what he was saying.
Chinen sighed as all the anger he had worked up seemed to drain right out of him. He resumed his position on his back to look at the stars. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s like time-travel jetlag making me grumpy or something?”
Keito laughed quietly at this weird explanation now that the tension between them had eased up. He looked up at the sky again and noticed a few wispy clouds were rolling in with the gentle breeze from the west. “To be honest, I don’t know why I don’t have any confidence. All I know is that you’re like… a bright shining star and I’m just… me.” He tried to explain it the best he could.
Chinen suddenly gasped like he just had an epiphany. “You know what you are?” He swung his arm out and hit Keito in the chest again, but this time in excitement for his idea. “You are the hero of another story!”
“I’m what?”
“Yes, that’s exactly it,” Chinen nodded as if confirming it for himself. “Back home, it’s true that you aren’t the center of the group. There’s nothing wrong with that because you’re still an important part of our group, no matter what position you are. But you’re quiet and you sometimes let yourself fade into the background.”
Keito couldn’t argue with that. There had been a time when he didn’t even have solo lines in any of their songs. But that had changed more recently, as they had begun to spread things out more evenly within the group. They had reached a balance.
“But here in medieval England, this is your story,” Chinen continued. “This is where you’re the hero. You’re our translator, our guide to jousting. You’re calm and collected even though we’re all secretly freaking out about being trapped in the past so far away from home.”
Chinen pointed straight up at the multitude of stars hanging in the dark sky above them. “You said I was like a shining star, but don’t you see all of these stars here? They’re all shining. No particular one is better than the one beside it. I’m shining. You’re shining. We all shine brightly together.”
Keito waited to see if Chinen would continue but that seemed to be the end of his pep talk. “Thank you,” Keito said. A smile rushed across his face. Maybe things weren’t as hopeless as he thought.
“Let’s go back and sleep,” Chinen suggested. He stood up and brushed the dirt off of his clothes. “It’s starting to get really cold out here.”
Keito followed him back to the guest house, but took one last look at the sky before going back inside. The wind had shifted directions, pushing away the wispy clouds that had been trying to roll in earlier. And Keito felt a bit like he’d shifted directions too. Maybe the hero of this story was on the right track now, he thought.
***
There were definitely more people here than Keito had expected. It was certainly a lot more than the crowd they’d seen when they first arrived in this time period. Everyone was all gathered in a wide open space beside Tim’s castle, making a large circular ring of people around the bare patch of dirt perfect for the jousting competition field. Keito had a better look at the peasants settling in to watch. They wore clothes similar to what he expected to see in movies and they all looked a bit dirty, which was also what he sort of expected from what little he knew of this historic time period. What surprised him, however, was that all the hairstyles looked like something out of the 1990’s. Keito supposed that fashion really did go in cycles.
Still, Keito was surprised by the amount of people who had shown up. But then again, he considered that there probably wasn’t much else to do around here. He had, after all, just this morning witnessed Yuto and Hikaru amuse themselves by simply throwing sticks at each other.
“If you keep zoning out like that, Takaki will probably sneak over here and braid your horse’s hair.”
“What?” Confused, Keito turned to see Chinen standing beside him.
Chinen gestured to where the rest of their group was waiting with their horses. Sure enough, Takaki was braiding the brown mane of Daiki’s horse and putting bright flowers in its hair. Daiki was trying to shoo him away but Takaki looked determined.
“Since when has Takaki been a hairdresser?” Keito asked. Daiki had resorted to waving his arms in the air and attempted to kick Takaki in his armor-clad shins, which went about as well as one would expect.
“Since this morning when Inoo told him his roots were showing. I think he’s compensating for not being able to style his hair properly here without his usual hair products. Either that or he’s completely snapped.”
By now, Daiki had given up and was reluctantly handing Takaki flowers from his basket.
“So how do you feel about our chances of winning today?” Keito asked his friend. He’d seen some of the competition around and they all seemed to be veteran jousters. They looked comfortable in their armor and comfortable with their horses, while Keito still felt bulky in his metal suit and Chinen still seemed concerned that his horse was going to bite him or something. He had the reins in his hand but he was standing as far away as possible.
“Well…” Chinen began slowly, scanning the crowd himself. “Yabu still can’t get the hang of staying on his horse for more than three minutes, Daiki still thinks he’s supposed to swing his lance like a baseball bat, Hikaru’s horse keeps getting distracted, and…” he trailed off as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye and did a double take. “And Yuto’s still not wearing pants.” He raised his voice to call across the way to remind Yuto to put on his missing pieces of armor.
“That’s not very reassuring,” Keito said. He watched as Yamada dragged Yuto away to properly dress him while nearby Inoo was waving a red scarf at his horse like he was a bullfighter in Spain instead of a jouster in medieval England. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
“But I think we’ll be okay,” Chinen concluded. “We have a bright shining star after all. It’s your turn to be the hero.” He grinned and poked Keito’s cheek.
“I’ll… try?” Keito tried to gather up as much confidence as Chinen had. They believed their only hope of returning to the present rested on winning the trophy. He couldn’t slack off and give up now.
“That’s the spirit! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to stop the Horse Whisperer from getting trampled.” Chinen left in the direction of Inoo and his increasingly agitated horse. Keito wondered how Chinen was going to manage his rescue without getting too close to the horses. But before he could see what happened, he was distracted by a familiar clang against his armor. He turned to see, not surprisingly, Hikaru standing there with his lance and a devious grin.
“What was that for?”
“Last minute practice,” Hikaru answered with a devious grin that rivaled even Chinen’s worst one.
Keito was about to just ignore Hikaru’s annoying way of teasing him, but then he remembered Chinen’s advice to be more confident. If he was supposedly the hero after all, he couldn’t back down from anything that got in his way. So instead of just turning his back on Hikaru, he picked up his lance and poked him back, feeling satisfied with the clang that resonated loudly on contact.
Hikaru unexpectedly laughed. “That was a pretty good hit. I’ve been waiting to see when you’d strike back. I’d wish you good luck today but I don’t think you’ll really need it to win.”
Keito blinked. Hikaru had never been one of his most encouraging bandmates. In the early days of their group, Hikaru had always been the harshest in correcting his mistakes, never missing the opportunity to scold him if necessary. It took Keito a while to realize that Hikaru had only been trying to help him in his own way. And it had helped. Keito had come a long way from the kid who cried whenever he had trouble with difficult choreography.
“Thanks,” Keito said.
“Don’t be sappy,” Hikaru responded. “No time for that. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go find the rest of my jousting gear.” He was, of course, referring to his easily distracted horse which had wandered away again. He raised himself to his tiptoes and scanned the crowd.
Keito caught sight of the light-colored horse poking its head around a food stall one of the villagers had set up. He pointed Hikaru in the right direction and then rejoined the rest of the group. The tournament was about to start soon.
Yabu dug out a crumpled piece of parchment from somewhere inside of his armor and cleared his throat for their attention. “I have a speech I want to make,” he declared. He squinted at his messy ink-blotted handwriting for a moment before beginning.
“Today is a momentous occasion,” he began in dramatic voice, “for we, Hey Say Jump, fearless accidental time-travelers are about to kick ass in our first jousting tournament.”
“Aren’t we supposed to knock them on their ass, not kick them?” Inoo asked.
Yabu ignored him and just continued on with his speech full speed ahead. “We trained long and hard for a chance to participate and to hone our jousting skills.”
“It was really only like a few hours of training yesterday and half of that was spent staring at our horses because Yuto said that’s how we’re supposed to bond with them,” Daiki interrupted to clarify.
Yabu cleared his throat again for full attention. “And this morning we celebrated with a hearty feast of the lambs, and sloths, and carp, and anchovies, and orangutans, and breakfast cereals-”
“Skip ahead a bit, Yabu,” Takaki insisted gently because honestly, they hadn’t eaten any of that stuff during their breakfast.
Without missing a beat, Yabu skipped down half his page of writing and continued. “So hey! I say it’s time to jump into action and joust like we’ve never jousted before.”
“Well we haven’t jousted before,” Yamada pointed out.
Yabu, however, would not be deterred from his speech. “And thus, verily I hope we will do our best to winneth the trophy and figureth out how to time-travel back home, but preferably not as roughly this time since I have a rather large bruise from the first trip. So anyway, we’re all in this together and it shows when we stand hand in hand, make our dreams come true.”
“…were you quoting High School Musical with that last bit?” Yuto asked.
“I didn’t understand half of that,” Chinen said. “Do you know what he means, Hikaru?”
They all turned to Hikaru for an explanation but he just shrugged. “I stopped asking that question in 2005.”
A loud trumpet sounded out across the field and they realized that it was finally time for the tournament to officially begin. Keito swallowed to force down the anxiety crawling up his throat. Tim climbed up on a platform to welcome everyone but Keito didn’t listen to much of it. The first match was Daiki versus a fierce-looking knight, so Keito spent more time watching them get into place and prepare for the signal to start.
“Ready… GO!” Tim called out. Daiki and his opponent lurched forward, horses picking up speed and kicking up dust into the air as they raced towards each other. It was all going well until the very last moment when Daiki ignored all his training and still swung the lance like a baseball bat. He successfully knocked his opponent from his horse and Daiki cheered at his accomplishment, pumping his fist in the air. Half of the group immediately face-palmed but Inoo enthusiastically cheered on his best friend.
“Disqualified,” Tim announced.
“What does that mean?” Daiki asked as he trotted back to Keito.
“Uh… you have a great home run swing?” Keito said, trying to be tactful. “But they’re jealous of your hit, so you can’t participate anymore.”
Daiki pouted but nodded like that was an understandable reason for getting kicked out of the tournament. He didn’t have much time to pity himself anyway since all the attention went to the next matchup: Yuto versus a knight as tall as him. It wasn’t often that Yuto encountered people that would tower over the crowd like him. Keito wondered if this would make the joust more evenly matched.
Yuto handled his horse with the grace and precision of someone with years of horse-riding experience. Luckily, the other knight wasn’t as coordinated. They watched as his horse stumbled forward and his shield wobbled precariously in his hands. Yuto got close enough to make contact, and he was able to knock his opponent to the ground.
They all cheered since that was their group’s first legitimate win. Keito was suddenly enveloped into a bone-crushing hug from Takaki who was standing closest to him. The pressure against his ribcage was cutting off his air supply.
“Uh… Takaki…? Can’t… breathe…”
“My bad,” Takaki said as he pulled away. He handed Keito a random flower from his horse’s mane as an apology. Keito looked at it in confusion and then threw it away over his shoulder as soon as Takaki wasn’t looking.
The next two matches were between knights they didn’t know. Neither one was particularly exciting, so Keito’s adrenaline levels dropped a bit and he let himself relax. Once a knight in solid black armor won and trotted off the field, Inoo and Yabu went up to take their places. It was a bit frustrating that they’d been matched up against each other, but it was inevitable anyway because if they made it past the first round, the whole group would be matched up against one another eventually.
The results of their joust really weren’t that surprising. As usual, Yabu managed to fall off his own horse before Inoo even got close enough to hit him with the lance. With a disappointed sigh, Inoo and his horse gracefully leaped over Yabu. Keito was pretty sure Inoo would have been better off entering some sort of jumping competition but that apparently hadn’t become popular yet. Or maybe it hadn’t been invented yet. He wasn’t quite sure.
Takaki was up next and Keito watched in confusion as Takaki politely handed his opponent a flower crown for his dark stallion. The colors actually made a beautiful contrast with the horse’s shiny black coat. The knight said a confused thank you before taking their places. Even the peasants got quiet as they watched the battle of the flower-adorned horses.
It was over as quickly as it started. Perhaps the flowery gift had been a tactic to distract his opponent because Takaki’s lance made contact and knocked him off with ease. He landed on the ground with a thunk, kicking up a tiny cloud of dust. There was silence in the crowd until Takaki took off his helmet and shook his still-perfect hair like he was a fancy model in a photoshoot. That suddenly made the people cheer loudly. He helped his opponent up before returning to the group.
“How do you keep your hair so perfect even while wearing that heavy hot helmet?” Keito asked. He could feel sweat dripping down the sides of his own head.
Takaki just shrugged. “Um… I just have good hair?”
Truly, this was a bigger mystery than the time-travelling one, but Keito had no time to ponder it because Yamada was up against Hikaru in the next match. The two of them squared off and Keito held his breath in anticipation because he wasn’t sure what Hikaru’s horse was gonna do. The horse looked like it had been eyeing the flowers in Takaki’s horse’s hair for some time. But much to the surprise of everyone, Hikaru’s horse galloped straight forward towards Yamada.
“What a shock!” Yabu said as he leaned forward to get a better look.
Yamada dramatically ducked the lance flying towards his chest while Hikaru easily swerved around Yamada’s own attack. There was a sigh of disbelief from the crowd as the match was a draw. Everyone turned to Tim for a ruling, but he just shrugged and declared a rematch.
This went on for five more rounds until Hikaru’s horse finally lost its sudden focus and wandered off for a tasty patch of clover nearby. Frustrated, Hikaru just jumped off and gave up. Yamada cheered and did a victory lap around the field until Yuto grabbed the reins and pulled him away.
It was finally Keito’s turn. He looked across the jousting field to his opponent: Chinen. He took a deep breath because that was the last person he wanted to face off against even if he had faced off against him during practice already. Even if Keito was feeling a little more confident than before, Chinen was still the most capable person he knew. The person able to do a ton of backflips in a row, able to easily memorize choreography on the first try, able to charm people into buying him dinner all the time, including Keito on way too many occasions.
Keito flipped the face-guard down on his helmet and squared his shoulders. He took a deep breath and urged his horse forward. The adrenaline was pumping through his body and his hands were shaking. Everything felt like it was moving in both slow motion and at ridiculously fast speeds as he and his horse moved closer and closer to Chinen. He couldn’t see the other’s face, but he could imagine the look of determination behind the helmet. He could see the intensity in Chinen’s shoulders hunched forward. With as much force as he could muster, Keito thrust his weapon out while simultaneously putting his shield up to defend himself.
Somehow he managed to maneuver just right to land a hit. Chinen, who had chosen to throw his shield up instead of the lance, lost his balance. Keito watched in a semi state of shock as Chinen fell off his horse and he was declared the winner. He hopped off of his horse and went to check if Chinen was okay. But Chinen had already stood back up and removed his helmet. He looked relieved.
“Are you okay?” Keito asked as they led their horses off the field.
“Better than okay,” Chinen said with a smile. “I didn’t lose on purpose but I was really hoping you’d knock me off.”
“Why is that?”
Chinen turned towards the direction of the stables. “Because I sure as hell don’t want to ever do that again,” he explained. “I’ll stick with my dangerous trapeze stunts instead of this any day.”
Keito nodded and watched as Chinen went to put his now-unnecessary horse back in the stable. He couldn’t blame Chinen for feeling that way, but Keito was surprised that he himself didn’t feel the same. The joust had actually been… fun? In a weird sort of way. Kind of more thrilling than it was in practice yesterday. For a brief moment, the crowd had been cheering for him.
“Nice work,” Yamada said as Keito rejoined the group. The next round of the tournament was beginning and Yuto was up against the knight Daiki had home-run’d off his horse earlier. He looked like he was ready for some payback for the first round.
Yuto, however, was not intimidated. He had finally gotten the hang of twirling his lance like a giant drumstick and was currently giving his opponent a staredown as he tossed the weapon effortlessly into the air.
Keito watched the joust and held his breath, wondering if Yuto would make it. The two of them collided, both making contact. Yuto shouted loudly and Keito wasn’t sure if it was from pain or the adrenaline rush, but he stayed on his horse while his opponent did not. The crowd cheered loudly and Keito cheered loudest of all. This time Yuto did a victory lap until Yamada grabbed the reins and pulled him off the field.
“Well this is going better than expected so far,” Hikaru said.
Inoo’s next joust was up against the black-armored knight from earlier. Keito hadn’t been paying a lot of attention to his match, but he seemed like a determined competitor, like he wasn’t going to let anyone stand in his way. If there had been a bridge to guard, this knight would be standing in front of it, ready for battle.
Inoo, however, was unfazed by the knight and tried his own intimidation tactic of shouting in Kansai dialect. While all of JUMP stifled giggles at Inoo’s weird rant, it didn’t have much effect on anyone who didn’t speak Japanese. So it was disappointing when the knight easily won the joust. But Inoo quickly got off the ground and dusted himself off before hopping back on his horse. The two of them cantered off the field and leaped over a large bush on the way out.
“Show off,” Yamada muttered.
Keito watched Takaki’s match which went smoothly and quickly in favor of Takaki. He was beginning to think the flowers and braids were some sort of good luck charm. Again, the crowd of peasants cheered loudly for Takaki and he showered them with rose petals. Keito wasn’t even going to ask where he’d been keeping those.
All too quickly, it was time for Keito’s next joust. His opponent this time was Yamada. He took his position and quickly glanced at the crowd. Chinen was there giving both of them a thumbs up of support. He almost wanted to laugh at the cheesy look on his face.
If Chinen had been intimidating, Yamada was just as bad. Keito could easily think of a million times when Yamada had conquered difficult tasks while often being the sparkling center of their group. The guy was afraid of heights but still managed to do complicated tricks on high wires in their concerts.
Once the trumpet sounded to begin their match, Keito got off to a bit of a rough start with his horse stumbling over his first few steps. Keito leaned forward and patted the side of the horse’s neck and whispered a few words of encouragement. On the other side of the field, Yamada tried to fake him out by suddenly switching his lance and his shield, but Keito already knew how Yamada played the game.
The next thing he knew, Keito had landed a hit and Yamada lost his balance because he hadn’t yet adjusted to repositioning his gear. He fell gracefully to the ground. Again the crowd cheered as Keito won.
“You’re really good at this,” Yamada said as Keito helped him get back up.
“We had a good match,” Keito said, shrugging off the compliment. He never knew what to do when people praised him anyway.
Since that was the end of the round, Tim declared a short break for everyone to rest.
“I’m hungry. There should be snacks,” Daiki said, looking around for someone selling food. Yabu went with him in search of something to eat while they waited for the next round to begin.
Keito went over in his head the rest of the competitors left. It was just Yuto versus the scary black-armored knight and Takaki versus Keito. They all seemed to be pretty evenly matched so the results could go either way. But their odds of winning the trophy were pretty good since there was only the one other guy who could stand in their way.
“What will we do if we don’t win the tournament?” Yuto asked. He looked like he was itching to take his armor pants off again but couldn’t because he still had to fight again.
“We could always just steal the trophy?” Inoo suggested.
“But the museum exhibit said we won it,” Daiki said as he returned, munching on his food. “If we stole it, does that change history?” He held out more food for the rest of the group. “We brought you guys some chicken-on-a-stick if you want.”
Keito didn’t have much of an appetite now that he’d been reminded of how much pressure was left on him, Takaki, and Yuto. He handed his stick of food to Chinen who gleefully accepted the free stuff.
“No pressure,” Hikaru said, clapping their shoulders, “but I’d really like to get back home. I forgot to set my DVR to record some TV shows I wanted to watch.”
“That’s all you’re worried about?” Takaki asked.
Keito didn’t say anything but he was worried about a bit more than Hikaru was. He wondered how the staff reacted once they discovered that they’d gone missing. They’d already spent two nights here. He imagined that their families were upset and their manager was probably freaking out searching for them.
“We’re going to win,” Chinen said confidently, breaking Keito’s train of distressing thoughts. “If we worry too much, you all won’t be able to do your best.”
The trumpet sounded to signal the start of the next round. Yuto put his helmet back on and prepared to battle against the knight. If he managed to win this match, then they would be guaranteed to win the tournament. But the knight in the black armor didn’t look like he would go down so easily. Even if the knight lost his arms and legs, Keito thought he’d still keep fighting and wouldn’t give up.
“May the odds be ever in your favor,” Chinen said and pushed Yuto towards his horse.
“Can you think of something more uplifting than Hunger Games quotes?” Yuto complained. “I didn’t volunteer as tribute.”
They all cheered as loudly as they could for Yuto, but it wasn’t enough to keep him on his horse once the two of them collided. They instantly fell quiet even as the rest of the crowd watching cheered. Yuto picked himself off the ground and shrugged sadly before walking off the field.
“It was a good try,” Keito said.
“Now it’s up to you or Takaki,” he answered. He shamelessly began to take his metal pants off in front of everyone again now that he didn’t need them anymore. He looked happy to be able to move his legs freely once more.
Keito sighed, not wanting to face another one of his bandmates again. Takaki offered his horse a flower crown but he politely refused. He had more things to worry about than whether his horse looked pretty or not. Unlike his previous opponents, Takaki was bigger than him and he’d have to use more force than before to knock him off. Keito rolled his shoulders to loosen them up. By now, he had used the lance and the shield so much that they were beginning to feel like an extension of his body. Chinen had told him time and time again to be more confident, but now he was finally starting to feel it.
Unlike his last two jousts where Keito was a bit reluctant to fight, this time he went forward with all his might. But perhaps he was a bit overconfident because he got the timing of his attack wrong and didn’t do much damage. Instead, Takaki’s hit knocked him back a bit and he dropped his shield to grab hold of his horse before he fell off. He looked back at Takaki, but he hadn’t budged.
Tim declared a draw, so they’d have to face off again. As he got back into position, he glanced back over to the rest of his bandmates. They looked like they didn’t know which person to cheer for. But deep down, he hoped they were cheering for him. He would allow himself to be selfish just this once and he would be more cautious this time.
Everything seemed to go twice as fast this time. Keito blinked and suddenly he had won the match. Takaki’s hit hadn’t been as hard this time while Keito’s had been twice as strong. Takaki had been the crowd’s favorite, so they all got quiet once they realized he’d been eliminated, but then Takaki got up and shook Keito’s hand which made the crowd happy again.
Clang.
Keito looked to his right and was not at all surprised to see Hikaru grinning at him. “Now it’s just you and that guy,” he said, pointing to the knight who had beat Yuto.
“We’re all counting on you,” Yabu said. “Should I give another speech for good luck?”
“Uh… no I think I’m good,” Keito answered. Yabu’s first speech hadn’t really made much sense. He went to get back into position for the final but Chinen stopped him by grabbing his elbow. Keito turned to look at his friend.
“Time to shine, Hero,” he said quietly and smiled.
Keito nodded with determination. He’d try his best. The black-clad knight in front of him looked ready to joust. Keito took a deep breath. It was all up to him now. His arms were getting tired but he ignored the pain as he raised up his lance and shield. The trumpet sounded and Keito galloped straight ahead as fast as his horse could travel. He leaned forward to pick up speed. It was different this time since he didn’t know anything about his opponent except for what he had seen in the previous matches. As he drew closer and closer he focused on the knight, how he held his weapon, how he led his horse. If he focused enough, he would be able to pick out the knight’s weak spot.
And there it was: a dented spot in the lower part of his chest plate. He guessed that it had been damaged in an earlier joust. If Keito could hit it just right, perhaps it would be with enough force to knock him to the ground. He aimed and the cheers of the people faded into the background so that the only thing he could hear was the hoofbeats of his horse and the sound of his breathing. And when his lance made contact with the knight’s armor it resonated with a clang that he was all too familiar with. But he couldn’t relax yet because in his effort to aim properly, he had forgotten about using his shield. The other knight’s lance pushed him back and slightly sideways and Keito couldn’t check to see if his opponent had fallen because he was busy trying to hang onto his horse.
The horse hit a rough patch in the ground, making Keito lose more of his grip. He was holding on only by his knees pressing against the side of his horse and without thinking, he dropped his lance and his shield in order to free his hands. Just as he felt himself slipping off, he remembered something Chinen had said to him back before they’d travelled through time, back when the two of them were sitting on the park bench waiting for filming to begin. “You’re our anchor in a storm,” Chinen had said. Keito hadn’t understood then, but he definitely understood now. He had to hold on just like an anchor. He absolutely could not allow himself to lose the joust. He was the only one left to win the trophy.
With all the strength he could muster up, Keito gritted his teeth and pulled himself back up to a sitting position, feeling the strain against all his muscles. He let out a huge sigh of relief and turned to see whether his opponent had made it too. He couldn’t help but grin when he removed his helmet and saw the knight off of his horse, dusting off the dirt left behind from when he’d fallen.
He had won.
The crowd went wild at the exciting conclusion of the joust, and the loudest of all were his bandmates. He saw them jumping and hollering together on the sidelines while waving him over to congratulate him on his win.
“That was AWESOME!” Yuto shouted in his ear as he wrapped him into a bear hug. Keito had no time to respond as the rest of the group joined in as well. A few rose petals fluttered in his peripheral vision and he realized Takaki was showering them with the bright red flower in celebration.
“I knew you could do it,” Chinen whispered to him in all the chaos.
Keito smiled and finally felt like he had done something great. “Thanks for believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.”
“Don’t be sappy,” Hikaru interrupted and reached forward like he and Yabu were going to pick him up and throw him up in the air in celebration.
“Let’s not do that,” Keito exclaimed and wiggled away from the danger. He may have conquered jousting, but there were just some things better left undone.
Once the chaos had settled down, Tim waved them over to present Keito with the trophy. This was the moment of truth. The Heisei Knights had won the tournament, but they still had no idea how they were going to get home now that their mission had been accomplished.
Keito stepped forward to accept the prize, but he pulled Chinen along with him because without his encouragement he never would have made it. Tim said a few nice words that Keito didn’t bother to translate. The group was all waiting in anticipation.
Slowly, he and Chinen reached out for the fancy trophy. As soon as their hands made contact, they were all engulfed in a bright white light right before everything went dark.
***
Keito blinked as his eyes adjusted to the change in light. They were all standing back inside the museum right where they’d been before. Keito looked around and saw the confused but relieved faces of all his friends. The British armor they’d borrowed from Tim had disappeared and they were left only with the parts of the samurai armor they’d been wearing before.
“How long have we been gone?” Yamada asked.
Daiki pulled out his cell phone and checked. He grinned as soon as he realized his phone was working again. “We’ve only been gone… a few minutes I think?”
The sound of footsteps caught their attention and they all turned to see a staff member moving towards them. “Hey,” he called out, “we’re ready to start filming now.” He waved them all to leave the museum. The ticket lady was back from wherever she’d been earlier and was glaring at the staff member for coming inside without a ticket. She brightened up considerably when Takaki handed her a flower while they were on their way out.
They all shuffled back towards where the TV crew was set up. No one else seemed to notice, but they moved much more comfortably in the armor than before despite a few quiet complaints of achy muscles from the tournament. They didn’t tell anyone what had happened though because they knew no one would possibly believe them.
“After what we’ve just gone through, filming Itadaki this week is going to be a piece of cake,” Chinen said to Keito. The two of them were lingering at the back of the group as they walked together.
Up ahead, they saw Yabu grab the reins of a horse from one of the staff members and climb on. He promptly fell off the other side.
“Well, mostly,” Chinen corrected himself with a chuckle.
“That was actually really fun,” Keito admitted. “I’m glad we’re back but I think I’ll sort of miss being the hero for once.”
Chinen shot him a devious smirk. “Well, hey,” he called out as he began to walk away. “Who says that a hero is only limited to one adventure?”