Betting's off
"Seiiiiiiiiii!" In a dorm room, Reiji fell back into his bed like a bored child, his voice a long drawl as he called out to his partner. The prince of Arian, even in a strange world, should not have to bear waiting for the next spur of excitement. He was happy to engage in this world's gunpla challenges.
"Yes Reiji?" Sei Iori, the son of a Gunpla World Battle Tournament finalist, was a boy with his heart adopted by mobile suits. Sitting at a desk, he didn't move his head to comply. It was the type of stance he had when he was too emerged in his gunpla construction: Hands and fingers moving, everything else stationary, butt stuck in chair.
"What are you doing Sei?" Reiji asked in his slouchy voice. He had a voice like he sighed out of his nose, his boredom very evident. The Star Build Strike was standing next to Sei, untouched.
"I am checking the Gunpla Forum Club," Sei said.
"Gunpla Forum Club?" Curiosity easily sparked, Reiji shifted off the bed and walked over to Sei. The blue-haired boy faced a laptop screen filled with columns of text and photos of various gunpla. Reiji even saw Beginning G and Star Build. Sei pointed to the photo of his and his partner's gunpla.
"When the World Tournament happens, The Forum Club is where various fans come together and discuss it. They even talk about who they want to win. See, there's us." Reiji pushed his face closer and his mouth beams widely. "You're right!"
On the screen, various text flowed with the love of Gunpla. Sei looked into the topic "Who do you think will win?" The answers were various:
"Sei and Reiji! I love Build Strike!" said a fourteen-year-old girl named Asuka.
"It'll be Kawaguchi! He's a-mei-jin!" was a comment from a girl, ageless and nameless. She was titled "anonymous", which showed up when a name box was left blank. However, "anonymous" showed up in either blue or pink color to show the person's gender. It was also a choice to not reveal an age.
"Sei and Reiji!" said forty-year-old "Katejina: Mama of Gunpla Fan"
"Raman Khan! Sieg Zeon!" said thirteen-year-old Toto.
"Darn it! Why did Alejandro Corna lost!?" A comment from an anonymous man.
"Super baseball pilot Luang Dallara" said eighteen-year-old Sunan Asuno from Thailand. A male.
"WAGA RYUHA TOHOFUHAI HA OUJYA NO SENGOKU!" said someone named American Asia. Asia was female, ageless. Her comment was clearly in Hepburn.
"I think Italy's Fellini is very cute."
"Why is Zero green?!" said an anonymous female sixteen-year-old.
"How about Aila? She can do it," said thirty-year-old Miguel.
"AILA I LOVE YOU! I WANT YOU TO LIVE!" said a twenty-three year old male: Amada-kun.
"Nothing exists without light," said Callisto's Light, a twenty-year-old male. Following after him was a comment from a girl named Cruz. "Let's find a new light to replace God: and that light is gunpla!"
After a long moment of scrolling and staring, Sei let out a light laugh of embarrasement. "Well, of course, some comments aren't always on topic."
"Yeah, they're like mindless idiots," said Reiji. He was tactless as ever. "Especially the one who talks about who is cute." His boredom was interchanged to the feeling of wanting to go to bed and forgetting what he had just saw. Sei simply told him that it was people who loved gunpla in every way.
"Reiji, don't you like to see enthusiasm? Or when people cheer for you? Okay, so maybe it's different compared to seeing actual spectators," the builder said, his mouth slanting. Reiji waved his hand to discard the Forum Club and turned away from the laptop. It had nothing to do with his upcoming challenge, nor would it help aid him in his steps towards Tatsuya Yuki.
"Yo!"
Hearing a familiar voice, and Sei's gasp, Reiji spurred with energy and rushed back to the desk. He shoved his head over Sei's shoulder.
"Fellini!"
"Buon Giorno Reiji, Sei," said the Italian Dandy with a smile. On Sei's laptop, Ricardo Fellini's face appeared in a small pop-up box on the upper right of the screen.
Sei looked surprised. "Mister Fellini! Why are you here?"
"What do you mean?"
"How did you know that I am on here?"
Fellini let out a gentle, amused laugh. "It's because we are participates of the World Tournament. We're on an exclusive interconnection linked to the host dorms. You were registered automatically with your room. It's the same with me."
"Isn't that invasion of privacy?!" Sei said.
"What? I happen to know you're on because you logged on. That's all. It's not that different from the telephone, is it?" Fellini cocked an eyebrow.
"Uhhh." Sei's face was one that showed disbelief. He was abashed; Reiji shared the same sentiment, but his line of thinking was more of wonders over how stupid Fellini could be. Sure, they could communicate with one another via telephone, but a phone couldn't sense if someone was in the room or ignored. It was either picked up or not.
"Besides, you could've clicked the 'do not disturb" option on the taskbar," Fellini added. Sei rarely paid attention to further features of the laptop, having spent the majority of his time repairing or reinforcing Star Build.
"I am surprised that many girls love gunpla," Fellini said.
"Hey." Reiji had a look of disappointment on his face. "You're looking at that Forum Club thing too?" His heart could sink; he briefly questioned in his mind if he had misjudged the Dandy, who was his battle mentor.
"Of course." Fellini nodded his head.
"It is proof that gunpla is being loved all over the world." Sei said, smiled.
"True." With his smile, Fellini cupped his chin. "Even more good news for me," he said and winked. Sei sighed, hoh boy.
"Girls and boys, young and old, no one can ignore my charm." He paused, and Reiji's mouth opened to retort. Quickly, Fellini continued.
"Even more so, the world of gunpla. The Forum Club was created to testify that. Since it is the World Tournament, there are plenty of bets. While there are comments, there are polls. And they make brackets and tally wins for each participant using spreadsheet programs. It truly shows how dedicated fans are. It makes you want to cry sometimes." Fellini closed his eyes and rubbed his nose. He sniffed. "I think I want to now."
"Hey Fellini." Reiji grinned. "Guess what? Someone of the Forum Club said that you were ugly."
"What?!"
"And, it was a girl too."
"No!"
"Rude isn't it? Maybe you shouldn't hang around this thing."
"That's preposterous!"
"It is the truth!" Reiji's snide behavior was nothing out of the ordinary; Fellini saw it as an over-the-top facade to augment a lie and make him believe that it's truth.
"Hey!" To further build up that he was right, Fellini lost connection. The last thing he saw was Reiji's palm flying at the screen.
"Reiji!" Sei shouted. Reiji had slammed the laptop close. Satisfied, he grinned and tottered to the bed.
"Why did you do that?" Sei was astonished by Reiji's abrasiveness, even though it was nothing new.
Reiji fell on the bed, his back turned to Sei. It was a gesture of complete disregard of anyone or anything in the room. Reiji, however, gave his partner a quick swish of his hand. "Just wanted to see the look on that guy's face."
Sei smiled wryly. "I didn't get a chance to check the brackets."
"So what? We're going to win, right? We promised!" To Reiji, a promise was more than any piece of pixel on a computer.