Hope often deludes the foolish man
"Mmm... that's not like you, major..." Noel whispered, turning on the bed before falling onto the floor face first. "Eek!" she cried out, as if the quick thud didn't snap her out of her sleep. "Owww..." she muttered, picking herself up. It's morning already, but outside the window, the sun wasn't even in the sky yet. In fact, she wondered if it really is morning already. "Major?" she turned around. Everyone else seemed to be sleeping and there are only two empty beds so she was probably the second one up. Jin, Sodia, and Carl were still fast asleep with a peaceful expression on their faces. "Probably shouldn't wake them up." Noel continued, tiptoeing her way out the room and walking down the hall.
It was there that Carl's eyes snapped open. He had been awake a few minutes earlier actually, but Noel's moaning sounds on the bed woke him up. And it was freaky listening to her like that. "I did not know she still feels that way about him." He looked at Jin, before sighing and getting off the bed. He also tiptoed his way out the room, hiding right behind the door and peeking his head out of the hallway. As soon as he saw Noel turn and head down the closest flight of stairs, Carl followed quietly, trying to... well... spy again. It's not like he has anything else to do.
Where was she going anyways? It's not like she can get lost in this place. It's not at all as large as some of the places like the academy so perhaps, just a time for herself to explore? Hearing voices, she turned a corner again before somehow making her way to the entrance. The Commandant of the Imperial Knights, Flynn Scifo was right outside, talking with two eerie-looking people. She gasped, upon getting a closer look. One of them was a girl, her long, blonde ponytail immediately recognizable, but it was her face that somehow didn't sit well with Noel. Her companion, the man in the white mask was what caught most of her attention, however. He felt... familiar.
Their attention suddenly turned to Noel as she approached, but she at least did not sense any hostility from them. That's a relief.
"Oh... is that the Nox Nyctores?" the masked man asked, instantly causing Noel to be a bit wary. Assuming he knew about the Nox Nyctores, then there really is more to him.
"Who are you?" Noel asked, standing behind Flynn just in case.
"I am Hakumen." The masked man replied. Flynn seemed to know him at least. Perhaps an earlier meeting?
Something snapped at the back of Noel's mind. "Hakumen? I think I've seen you somewhere before... No... Impossible!" Noel replied, staring right at the white mask. "You're... you're one of the Six Heroes!"
Flynn looked back at her. He thought she at least knew who Hakumen was. After all, she did come from the same world as him... right?
"Now it's time for me to ask a question. Who are you?" Hakumen responded, seemingly staring back at her.
"Ah... L-Lieutenant Noel Vermillion, Praetorian Guard... Fourth Division." Noel instinctively answered, realizing that didn't exactly apply to her anymore. "I mean umm... just a Lieutenant. I'm not in any d-division right n-now." She stuttered nervously.
Hakumen waited before suddenly replying, "I am not interested in whatever you call yourself. I was questioning your existence."
"M-My existence?" Noel wondered.
"I don't 'know' you." Hakumen continued.
"W-what are you talking about?" Noel asked.
"Do you not sense it? The weapons of causality that you wield, a limiter to your own power, Child of the Azure." Hakumen replied, turning away. "Now I see why I sensed three. Yours are activated, Nirvana is a bit further away, but Yukianesa has begun to deactivate itself."
"The Major's sword?" Noel asked.
"Regardless of that, I have nothing else to say. I will wait for the rest of you at your method of transport out of this area. Where is that?" Hakumen asked Flynn.
"Our only method of transport out of here is Ba'ul and the Fiertia actually." The young Commandant replied. "I believe they should be to the east of here."
"East is where the location of Nirvana is. I can assume she is waiting there." Hakumen nodded, walking away, his companion following silently.
Once the two left, Noel breathed out a sigh of relief and leaned back against a wall. "Too confusing..." she said quietly, hearing a chuckle come out from the Commandant. "Oh, ah... sorry... I didn't mean to complain." She continued.
"Oh, I wasn't laughing about that." Said Flynn. "It's something else completely unrelated to what's happening."
"Guess I'm just paranoid then." Noel sighed, still staring back at Flynn. "Just ignore me, Mr I mean umm... Commandant... umm, Scifo, Sir..."
"You don't have to act all formal around me Miss Vermillion." Smiled Flynn. "You are a member of the knights after all. And Carl did say you need a lot more friends."
Placing a palm on her forehead, Noel continued, "I'm sure he doesn't mean it like everyone should try to befriend me. It's not as if I'm going to be much help anyways in terms of what all of you are planning."
"None of us are actually planning anything at the moment. Didn't Lady Estellise say this was just a break? So, just relax. You're always so nervous everytime we see you." Flynn chuckled.
"I really don't think I'm that cut out for being a knight though. It's just that I really don't know what else I can do." She replied, beginning to walk back into the inn with Flynn following closely behind. "I'll never be as good as Jin."
"It's not necessary to compare yourself to a superior. Assuming Jin's stories are true, you are quite the fighter back in your world." Flynn smiled.
"Really?" Noel asked, slightly amused that Jin talked that way about her. Or... maybe it was when he related the fact that he nearly... probably did... kill her. "When I'm fighting, I don't really think about anything. I guess that's because when I'm fighting, it's not really... me fighting." She looked down at the ground and summoned up her weapons in her hands. "The weapon in my hands, Bolverk, it does all the fighting. Without it, I'd be pretty useless." She murmured.
"You don't really need to be a good fighter to be part of the knights." Flynn told her, nodding his head. "Just as long as you have a willingness to do good and serve the populace, you're all set. Even if it's as simple as helping out the common people." He continued.
"That's nice." Noel smiled. "And it's not a different division, right?" she asked him.
"No, not really. But if you were a captain of the knights, you can choose which aspects of the Empire you want to try and help out." Flynn replied, watching Noel continue to walk forwards before tripping accidentally. Immediately, he caught her arm, preventing her from falling down further.
"Thanks." Noel said, getting back up and looking around. Why does everyone seem busy at the moment? None of her other 'new friends' were up yet as far as she knew. "What's going on?" she wondered.
"Oh, it's just that our chef has injured himself, breaking an arm and a leg after slipping on something." One of the workers said, approaching the pair. "We'd appreciate any extra help, please?"
"Cooking huh?" Flynn said quietly. "Say, Miss Vermillion, how good are you at cooking?" he asked her.
"Me? Umm...Average, I guess?" Noel said.
"I guess that's good enough. We can help with cooking breakfast for everyone else? What do you say?" Flynn smiled at her.
"That'd be great!" Noel replied.
"Oh no..." Carl whispered, still spying on them as a finger touched the back of his neck, causing him to jump up in alarm. "Wha - !"
"Hello." The little girl smiled at him. She definitely looked younger than him by a few years, but after what Yuri and the others told him, she was much older than she looked. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing much." Carl replied, straightening his glasses, "Spying on a friend of mine I guess."
"Why are you suddenly teasing him all of a sudden, Patty?" Raven said as he approached the two. He seemed to have woken up quite early as well. Or at least, earlier than the others. "Hey Carl, what'cha up to?" he asked.
"He's spying." Patty told him.
"Really now? Ain't that nice?" Raven smirked, peeking over a corner and watched as Flynn and Noel entered the cooking area. "Oh ho... this looks like good dirt for information. Why did those two enter together?" he grinned.
"To cook us breakfast, obviously." Said Carl, giving out a quick sigh when the door to the cooking area closed. "Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend breakfast. Before everyone else is awake, I plan to go to Ba'ul and check on Ada. I'm sure she must be lonely without me." He continued.
"Not gonna take Rita with you?" Raven asked him.
"Nah, she'd probably get bored waiting for the others to get back." Carl answered quite calmly, stretching his arms behind him. In truth, the only reason he wanted to go back was because he'd rather not be here to taste Noel's cooking. He didn't know how good of a cook Flynn was but it's best not to take chances. "Anyways, I'll have to take my leave now. Say 'Hi' to everyone else for me." He nodded, beginning to walk away before feeling a tug on his neck.
"Can't go alone. There are monsters out there after all." Patty grinned. "I'll accompany you if you don't mind." She told him.
"Ah...b-b-but..." Carl started as Patty started pushing him out the door. "Alright... but only if you don't have anything to do." He continued.
"Oh don't worry, I'm gonna take good care of you on the way." The little girl grinned.
It took maybe another hour before everyone else finally woke up and was able to gather around the kitchen area. The baths and hot springs are all finished, so this would be the last meal they'll have here unless they return at a later date. The good news is, everyone was feeling quite relaxed. A vacation to Yumanju was indeed, much needed refreshment for all of them.
Jin was acting with slight disinterest, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. He was able to get along well with others in the past, but at least now he was actually actively making new friends. Out of necessity as he liked to tell himself, but there was something missing that he couldn't quite put a finger to just yet.
"Anyone here want to check on Flynn? I'm sure we've had experience with his cooking so... it may not be a good thing if he's involved in making breakfast." Yuri called out, with no one raising their hands.
"Since my Lieutenant is supposedly cooking as well, I don't think you have to worry too much." Said Jin, calm and collected as usual.
"And how good is Noel at cooking?" Sodia asked.
"I don't know. I never tried her cooking but I assume it can't be too bad." Jin replied with a smirk. "She is from a Noble family after all so she must have been taught how to cook proper meals." He nodded.
"Yeah... about that..." Estelle said quietly, though decided not to pursue the topic any further. She's royalty, but she hadn't exactly learned how to cook until she met Yuri. This however, did not change the fact that Flynn was cooking breakfast for them as well. Whether it's going to be very tasty, or destructively bad, that's not something they can predict by now.
"Why do I have a feeling Carl knows something about this?" Rita said, resting her chin on the table.
"Probably because your boyfriend knew Noel for a while and didn't want to stay and taste her cooking." Karol chuckled on his seat besides Rita, only to have her fist collide with his face. "Argh!" he cried out.
"Things still aren't changing." Raven sighed, looking at the two youngest members of the group.
"Breakfast is ready!" Noel called out from the cooking area, bringing out a small tray with Flynn. Apparently they were working on two dishe. Not much, but there's no need to make a lot anyways. "Tadaa!" she exclaimed, opening the first set that she and Flynn made. The two fish-like dishes... cut into a few sashimi-like strips on Noel's end, while Flynn seemed to use the same type of fish for soup.
"You seem a little too happy for some reason." Jin looked at Noel. "Where'd all your nervousness go?" he asked.
"Oh... umm... I'm trying to fit in with all of you." Noel replied, taking a seat besides Jin.
"That's wonderful then!" Estelle smiled, nodding at Noel. "So now we can officially make you part of the group of Brave Vesperia!" she exclaimed. "No, not the guild. Just the nickname for everyone here."
"It is?" Yuri asked her.
"Jin and Noel would make good additions for the guild though." Karol said, rubbing his cheek where Rita punched it.
"A little too late though." Jin said, "The knights got to us first."
"Well, that's enough talk about all that." Flynn said, taking the other seat besides Sodia. "As you can see, me and Noel prepared these dishes with all our heart and soul."
"Don't copy me, Flynn. Just because my secret ingredient is 'love' doesn't mean you should find something similar to it." Yuri said, before looking at Jin. "Mind taking the first bite?" he asked him.
"Why?" Jin looked back.
"Just as a precaution." Yuri grinned at him.
"Tch, not trusting your best friends cooking is weird. At least I wouldn't complain... much... if Noel gave me something to eat." Said Jin, taking small pieces from both dishes prepared by Flynn and Noel, setting them on his plate and bowl respectively. Soup and Sashimi... can't be that bad, right? And it's not technically meat... right?
Oh well, it didn't look like the others were going to eat unless he ate first. He took a spoon and dipped it into the soup, swallowing the lifted contents, closing his eyes, and nodding his head at Yuri.
"Alright, the soup is safe."
Next would be the sashimi. With a fork, Jin took a small piece and placed it in his mouth, chewing on it briefly before swallowing it. "They're both quite good actually. I'm surprised." He nodded.
The group collectively sighed in relief before finally deciding to actually eat the meal prepared for them.
"Well, it looks like pairing our worst cook with someone wasn't such a bad idea after all. Thanks Noel for helping out Flynn." Yuri looked at her.
"Oh... umm... it's nothing really. He was actually helping me a lot with preparations." Noel replied, watching everyone else take portions of the meals.
"Alright! Let's eat!" Karol called out.
It took a few minutes before everyone finished their portions, seemingly content with their breakfast.
"By the way Noel, what kind of fish did you two use anyways?" Estelle asked her.
"Umm... I think it was some large fish... err... puffer fish I think?" she replied.
At this, everyone paused. Puffer fish? Non-professional chefs shouldn't even try cooking something like that. An ill-prepared puffer fish is very toxic. Which means...
"My lips are feeling numb." Jin whispered.
"Mine too." Estelle said.
"Puffer fish... oh man..." Karol whispered, "What have we gotten ourselves into?"
"Numb lips are the symptoms of something much worse." Rita groaned, resting her head on the table. "Estelle, I think you should heal yourself first before the rest of us go down."
"B-b-but..." Noel looked down. But their preparation was perfect!
"Seriously, we're going to need treatment very soon." Rita continued.
Waiting at the Fiertia, and to an extention, Ba'ul, Patty started talking with Hakumen while Carl went back into the ship to talk with his sister.
"Shouldn't your friends be here by now?" Hakumen asked the girl, staring down oddly with his mask. She didn't seem too intimidated at the very least.
"Oh, me and Carl got out early. The others are probably either waking up or just finishing breakfast." Patty said, removing her hat and looking back out to the Fiertia.
Arakune, the blob-like, bug thing was still in the same spot watched over by Nirvana, Carl leaning back against the side of the ship, watching Arakune continue reading the book it picked up off of the floor. "Tales of Vesperia, huh?" Carl sighed, staring back out to the west. "I wonder how well they're doing with her cooking?"
"They'll probably be fine." Patty said. "We've dealt with bad cooking before." She nodded.
"Ah, if meals could kill..." Carl chuckled.