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Nearly every student had already been frozen by the ghost bride's paralyzing slap, and Azul was starting to get desperate. The fact that this spoiled undead princess could see Idia’s charms when no one else could was an outrage! Only Azul was allowed to see past the veneer of a shut-in gamer to the interesting and enthusiastic conversation partner underneath! The worst part was that even she didn’t understand Idia’s actual charms, instead choosing to focus on his physical appearance and traits she projected onto him alone instead of his actual good qualities. Azul had kept quiet because he assumed one of the others would be successful at seducing her with their more conventional looks and especially Leona’s actual prince title, but they were running out of options and Azul was running out of patience with the spirit maiden’s ridiculous assumptions (Idia doesn’t have a dog, he HATES dogs. He is attempting to build a robot cat but it’s still a work in progress!) and so he decided to go with his backup plan.
“I have come as a suitor to stop the wedding of my one true love!” Azul shouted, dramatically throwing open the cafeteria doors with the arm not filled with roses.
“Oh another one? Fine fine, what do you have to offer? And please try to hurry it up, I do have quite a lot of wedding planning to do.” The specter pouted slightly, waving him forewords.
“I’m not here for you my lady. I have come to fight you for the hand of Idia Shroud!” Azul basked in the shocked gasps of the frozen students, most likely wondering why they hadn’t thought of this solution themselves. Idia himself was the most shocked, his hair tinged with just a few wisps of pink. The princess’ eyes sparked.
“You dare to claim you love Idia more than me? No one loves Idia more than me!” She fumed.
“Then of course you’ll take me up on my wager? If you’re so confident then surely you must know more about him than me?” Azul pushed up his glasses as if daring her to say no.
“Fine! I’ll show you the depths of our love! Bring it on!”
“Perfect! Then let us begin. Obviously Idia will be the judge of this competition, though I can have Jade cast a truth spell on him if you want to be sure this is fair. Would you like to sign a formal contract with the terms of the competition?” Azul clapped his hands together.
“No, just get on with it.” The princess tapped her foot well above the ground in a show of impatience.
“Well then, to see who knows Idia better we will participate in a trivia challenge! The first question should be easy for anyone who claims to love Idia, what is his favorite food?” Azul asked with a smirk.
“Obviously my darling prince will adore my homemade romantic ceviche more than anything else in the world once he’s tried a single bite!” The princess clasped her hands under her head dreamily. She was making this too easy.
“Incorrect! Idia must generally be forced by others to eat food, and when he does he primarily favors sugary treats over anything savory or spicy.” Azul gloated.
“Uh sure, wait, what’s ceviche again?” Idia stuttered, clearly still not done processing this was happening.
“Raw fish with spices and vegetables. Quite the delicacy in some parts.” Azul smiled as Idia gagged slightly at the idea.
“Yeah, Azul wins round one or whatever. Da da da da dun.” He said, adding a winning jingle from some video game. Their captive audience oohed as the princess fumed.
“Best two out of three!” She stomped an incorporeal foot on the ground without a sound.
“But of course! I’m willing to go on for as long as you wish until you’re satisfied. That’s how confident I am in the… connection between myself and Idia!” Azul hoped the pause in his sentence sounded more wistfully romantic than nervously hesitant.
“Round two, fight!” Idia smiled, clearly getting into this in his own weird way. It made Azul want to sigh fondly.
“You may not know his preference in food, but surely you know the title of his favorite manga? You… ran off with him after he went to go buy the latest volume so I’m sure he’s mentioned it. I would also accept the title of his favorite video game since it’s difficult to have any conversation without him bringing it up at least once.”
“Ha! That’s a trick question! My prince has no time for childish pursuits like picture books or games! I’m sure he actually spends most of his time slaying mythical beasts with his sword, dreaming of his beloved!” She closed her eyes in order to better picture the concept of Idia she had dreamed up while the real thing struggled against his paralysis.
“You take that back about video games right now you disgusting normie!” He shouted, startling the ghost out of her daydreams. She turned to face him looking shocked and hurt.
“While Idia has slain many beasts, they all reside inside his favorite game, Sphere of Swordsmanship. I think it’s fair to say I won that one as well, though if you’re curious his favorite manga is The time I reincarnated as a level 1 mob and how I took over the continent.” Azul smiled like a cat toying with a mouse, while Idia seemed shocked and flattered by his detailed knowledge of his hobbies. “Would you like to continue?”
“This… This is unfair! All of these questions have been about knowledge you get from knowing someone for a long time! Anyone who’s been around him for more than a week could answer these questions! Our connection was love at first sight, and it’s a thousand times stronger than your mere trivia knowledge!” Azul couldn’t tell whether the finger she pointed at him was shaking due to rage or fear.
“Hm. I’ll concede that point. How about one final competition, one much more your forte than mine, and that requires no past knowledge about Idia?” Azul tried to control his smile from growing any further and giving away his trump card.
“I’m listening.” The princess crossed her arms and glared.
“We shall both serenade Idia to the best of our abilities. Whoever’s song he joins in will be the winner. I’ll even concede defeat if he joins neither of us.”
“That sounds wonderful! My prince has been too shy to join in before, but with our love on the line I’m sure he’ll find the song in his heart! Come my love, let us show this interloper the sound of our joined passion!” She held her arms out like the lead in some dramatic play and began to sing a romantic tune Azul had never heard before that she had undoubtedly written herself. Idia just stared at her confused, not one usually up for singing at the best of times, and especially not a song he’d never heard. Azul bided his time, waiting until it was fairly obvious he wasn’t going to join her before speaking the magical incantation that would destroy her hopes of winning and crush those delusional romantic dreams.
“Kiss kiss fall in love!” He shouted more like a spell name than the beginning of a song, delighting in the way all eyes in the room snapped to him. Idia immediately perked up and joined in enthusiastically. Together their harmony completely drowned out the song of the would-be ghost bride as she fell to her knees in defeat. Azul was finally glad he had suffered through that schmaltzy romance anime so many times if only for this moment of glorious triumph.
They finished the song and smiled. The other students in the room cheered and likely would have clapped had their hands not been magically stuck to their sides.
“I concede defeat. Truly yours is a love that transcends all obstacles.” The princess lowered her head and sighed, waving a hand freeing all of the students from their statue-esque poses.
“Woo! You did it! You saved my life!” Idia ran up and hugged Azul. Azul hugged back, purely to sell their love as genuine! It wouldn’t do to come all this way just to trip at the finish line after all. The blush on his cheeks was purely coincidental, probably caused by singing.
“I’d love to come to the wedding if you would allow me. Are you planning on hosting it here today as I planned, or at a different venue at a later date? I wouldn’t be insulted if you used what I already started here since it would just go to waste anyways.” The princess said, picking herself up and brushing imaginary dust off of her skirt.
“What? Oh we- we’re not getting married.” Idia laughed awkwardly. The air turned cold as the princess’ face went dark.
“So this whole thing was a farce? He fought me for your hand as merely a trick?” Her voice was threatening as she advanced on the still entwined mages. Idia clung to Azul tighter and trembled.
“What my love means to say is we aren’t planning to get married right now. We both want to finish our schooling first before we consider an official union is all.” Azul laughed slightly as he covered for them thinking quickly. "We would be honored to use your careful preparations as our engagement party if you would be so kind." He tried to smooth things over by making their marriage seem like a more sure thing. The former smile returned to the ghost’s face as the chill in the room faded.
“I understand the desire to enjoy your youth. I’d want to do the same if mine wasn’t so cruelly stolen from me.” She sighed wistfully. “Still, I do have one gift I’d like to give you both.” She waved her hand and 2 rings appeared on Idia and Azul’s fingers that appeared to be made of precious stone. The one on Azul's hand was a bright fiery blue like Idia's hair, while Idia's was a deeper blue like the depths of the ocean.
"Think of it as an early wedding present! As well as a dark promise if this was all a ruse. If you take the rings off before your wedding night, you will be cursed forever! Though that won't be a problem, as long as you actually plan on marrying one another." She delivered this line excitedly, with just the slightest undercurrent of venom to her voice.
"We will treasure these precious gifts forever." Azul bowed slightly, trying to ignore the beads of sweat trickling down his back. Idia was much less composed, staring at the ring on his finger like it was a curled up snake and making multiple aborted moves to remove it before stopping in fear of the mystery curse.
"Well, I won't let my presence be a downer for your special night!" The princess wiped a small tear from the corner of her eye. "Goodbye… my prince. And let the celebration begin!" She gave a wistful smile, then twirled around and in a flash of sparkles both the ghost and her servants were gone, leaving only the food and decorations behind.
Some of the more mischievous students wasted no time passing out drinks before Ace shouted "To the official engagement of Azul and Idia!" Laughter filled the air as students lined up to wish the "happy" couple well. Both Azul and Idia stared at their hands like they still couldn't believe what had just happened. At some point they had been ushered to the seats of honor at the table. Azul finally seemed to snap out of it slightly.
"Jade, Floyd." He snapped and they appeared at his sides with a quick "yes?"
"Find me an expert on removing curses. I'd like to get this looked at." He said, eyes still not leaving the ring.
"Of course right away" Jade responded, while Floyd just gave an amused nod.
Idia looked at his own ring and smiled slightly. He kind of hoped it'd take them awhile. He didn't really want to get married, but it'd be a bit of a waste of such beautiful rings to take them off immediately. He leaned his head onto Azul's shoulder. It had been a long day, so he could be forgiven for being tired. Azul patted his head subconsciously.
"How do you know so much about my hobbies and preferences anyways?" Idia asked, not lifting his head from Azul's shoulder. He felt the merman's muscles tense beneath him.
"I have a photographic memory. This much knowledge is child's play." Azul explained, refusing to acknowledge how much attention he paid to Idia and how important their board game club sessions were to him.
Idia hummed, not really believing it, but way too tired to argue at this point.
The two rolled their eyes at the next overdramatic well-wisher striking up yet another toast to their eternal love. They'd figure a way out of this without marrying. Eventually. Probably.