Arranged Marriage

Survive The Party!

You wondered where Katakuri was going. Then you remembered what Brûlée had said. You hoped her help still applied to you, after you basically lied about your abilities, or lack thereof. The room at the end of the hall was still open. You run inside and turn on the light. The room is huge, there's got to be a mirror here somewhere. Of course, the bathroom! You run into the bathroom and stare at your reflection. "Brûlée'! Please Brûlée I need you!" You yell, feeling a bit silly, but maybe you really can do witchcraft after all. What would the queen say if she heard about you summoning your friends through mirrors?

After a minute of waiting Brûlée's face appears in the mirror. "Why aren't you at the party? It's not too late, come with me now or Mama will be furious!" You nod, you wouldn't want to upset Big Mom. "But how? Where's the party?" You asked. "Well it's not inside Big Bro Katakuri's room, that's for sure," Brûlée says, eyeing you knowingly. You gasp and your finger tips touch the spot on your neck that he had caressed a minute before. You're in Katakuri's room?! Now that you thought about it... He led you here! He chased you here. It was a one way hall. There was no way you made a wrong turn. Everyone else was definitely walking the other direction. They hadn't passed by a single person down this hall. You wondered what else could have happened between the two of you if you hadn't said anything.

"It's not what you think!" You hold up your hands in defense. "Relax," she says, "I heard the whole thing." What? She what? "How?!" You yell, louder than you mean to. "Mirrors," she shrugged, "one of the bad things about having so many siblings, nothings ever a secret for long. I've been keeping tabs on you Sis!" Now you understood why Brûlée knew you'd need a pick me up. She heard you through the bathroom mirror! Cool trick! Also... no privacy. "Help me Brûlée!" You beg her. "Okay okay! Come on!" She says and she reaches through the mirror and grabs your hands. You gasp, "what's happening?!" She just smiles, "come now, jump in!"

You climb on top of Katakuri's sink and jump into Brûlée's mirror. Inside the mirror was a whole world of mirrors. But you don't get to stay long and explore. Brûlée pulls you into another mirror and you're suddenly sitting at a table across from Big Mom and Katakuri. You turn around but Brûlée is gone and so is the mirror. That was a cool way to travel! You look around the room, it looks magical. You're on the top of Whole Cake Chateau. How did Katakuri get here before you? Did Brûlée help him too? And why did he leave you?!

"You're late!" Big Mom exclaimed. You apologize and look around the table to see if you recognized anyone else. Sweet Commander Smoothie is on Big Mom's other side, Sweet Officer Oven sat next to Smoothie. Sweet Officer Perospero sat directly to your right and Sweet Officer Daifuku on your left. You normally wouldn't feel so intimidated. But you have no idea how much of your earlier conversation with Katakuri was shared with the group. Now you're riddled with anxiety... you'd have to work hard to keep your abilities under wraps. The last thing you needed to do right now was to confirm their suspicions, that you're a ticking time bomb threatening to explode.

You hear, "Would you like some tea?" You say, "yes please," out of habit, tea might calm your anxieties, but you're not sure who to thank for the offer. Because you're not sure who offered and no one at the table seemed to be paying any particular attention. So you turn to look around either shoulder but no server was there? "Down here! Yoo-hoo!" You look down at your talking cup, now filled with tea. You scream at the surprise, "Ahhh!" And you whack the talking tea cup off the table but because you're so pent up on emotion, the whole table comes down under your fist! No! No no no, you gasp.

As though Katakuri had been anticipating it, just as the plates and treats started to slide from his end of the table to yours, the table became fortified by his mochi. Perospero finished the job and solidified the construction with candy, effectively fixing your disaster. You're horrified that you did that. The whole table was filled with talking dishes and treats. How did you miss that? You tend to disassociate, to disconnect yourself from your abilities, had you gone too far this time? Everyone's looking. Big Mom has a smile on her face, you hope that's a happy smile and not an 'oh goodie time for another execution' smile. You apologize profusely, "I am SO sorry!"

Smoothie gives you a cool smirk, "must be the pre-wedding jitters," she muses. Big Mom laughs. You don't know why but you find yourself looking over at Katakuri for.. support? Not even sure if he'd give it or if you deserved to have it at this point. He locked eyes with you but you couldn't read his intentions. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. He was further away from the table to make room for his long legs which he crossed at the knee. You return your gaze to your lap.

You go to cross your own legs at the ankle, but you feel your right leg being pulled out from under the table. You look down, the bottom of Perospero's candy cane is hooked around your ankle. "What beautiful shoes!" He exclaims with a knowing look. You smile brightly at him, grateful for the start of a normal conversation to cling onto. Something to keep you from running in tears from the party. "Thank you! They're the most wonderful pair of shoes I've ever owned!" You say honestly, they were the absolute coolest shoes. You wanted a whole wardrobe full of them, but you didn't want to sound greedy or ungrateful for what you already have. Perospero seems elated at your response and removes his cane from your ankle. You tuck your feet gracefully back under the table. 

You look down at the table for your tea cup, but remember you'd sent it flying. You sigh. You force every etiquette lesson you'd ever endured to the front of your brain. Focus. It's just a regular tea party. Act normal! Although, normally, you drank your tea alone because no one wanted to be at the same table as you. You might cast a witchy spell and poison their tea or something stupid like that. It's also awfully hard to drink tea while wearing a veil. You noticed a new set of dishes cautiously working its way in front of you. You didn't blame them, after all, you'd just killed their friend, the tea cup. 'SORRY' you mouth to the dishes. Your new cup is now filled with tea. At this rate you'd never be invited to another tea party again and you'll be taking tea alone forever.

"So," Big Mom begins loudly, not addressing any one person in particular, "which of my sons do you fancy?" You nearly spit tea right out of your mouth! Instead you choke and swallow it down uncomfortably. You cough twice and swallow again. Your face is bright red. What kind of a question is that?! It was obviously a question directed at you! And she said it so casually too.. Everyone looks up at you to hear your response. You feel breathless. You try to answer the question smartly, politically, "I couldn't say..." you wet your bottom lip considering your words carefully, "the only one I've had the pleasure to speak with was..." you look up and lock eyes with Katakuri. Your lips part to say more but when you do, you can't seem to form words or sentences. Suddenly there's no one else in the room, just the two of you. You can feel the intensity of his stare down to your core. You're instantly brought back to that moment outside of his bedroom. With his lips against your neck... and his warm breath on your skin. You shudder.

The moment is broken by Big Mom's boisterous laugh, "You have good taste, my dear! He IS the favorite!" You look away from him, blushing, and stuttering, "B-but! I didn't say anything..." You say quickly, trying to save face. Big Mom smiles at you greedily, "Oh, but you didn't have to!" Your eyes drift around the table, trying to read the room. It was like they all had a secret that you weren't privy to. You feel confused. Was something obvious to them that isn't to you? Katakuri was the favorite? Big Mom's favorite? Everyone's favorite? The most favorite of the women who visited? You remembered Flampe's Katakuri fan club, the family favorite? Oh Brûlée! Come back through that goddamn mirror and save me, you think. You'd made such a mess of everything.

What did this mean for you? Big Mom thinks you like Katakuri. She isn't entirely wrong. You don't know if you like him.. but you certainly want his lips back on your body more than you want to breathe air! How can you feel that way about someone and not know if you like them? You didn't know. But you wished he'd never stopped. You wished he'd opened his bedroom door for a different reason... you wished he'd have thrown you onto his bed and covered your naked body in his kisses. Did that mean you wanted him as your husband? Did Big Mom ask because you have a say in your husband? Or just because she has a knack for asking horribly uncomfortable things of you? She would certainly make for an interesting mother-in-law.