Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't have Tales of Xillia, because it was properties of Bandai Namco.
Who dislike festival now? Anyway, we finally arrived at the festival ground after running around for the whole 2 chapters on Yukata and the like. The next chapter will be the last for Summer Arc and we will jump to another event for the next season. You can start guessing about it from now~ I won't hold you here for long so now Rina Aria present you the next chapter of Memories From Back Then Chapter 12 – 'Just Your Luck'. I still appreciate review and point out since English is never my first or second language~ See ya!
"Jun, your luck is so rotten!" Leia exclaimed as she clutched her stomach in an attempt to stop herself from laughing it out. Her stomach had protested for long since she had laughed too much but she couldn't hold it.
Jun who was now dripping wet from the soda that was accidentally poured on him was crouching on ground while pondering over his bad fate. Beside him was Mai who was wiping his face using her handkerchief since she was the one who "accidentally" poured the soda on Jun's head.
"This was… interesting indeed," Milla commented as she looked at Jun while remembering about the amount of misery Jun had been through for the day. Of course, her torture included.
"I honestly never thought that that fortune would be this accurate," Jude said as he looked down to Jun quite literally since the latter was still being miserable and was crouching on the ground. He, along with Milla, was some who didn't believe in the fortune or fortune telling, generally speaking, at least at first.
(A few moments ago…)
The group was loitering around the festival site. Well, it was more like Jude showing Milla around, after the later admitted to the former that it was actually her first time as well, while Leia still tried to match Mai with Jun who acted awkward around each other. When they were doing just that, Jun accidentally knocked one of bystander until the person dropped her belonging.
"Ah, I'm sorry!" Jun said as he crouched down and picked the cards that were scattered around the ground.
The said person who was slightly off-balance looked up and watched Jun picking up the first card he managed to get. She then looked at the card before murmuring, "The Tower… it looks like you wouldn't have a great luck."
"Eh?" all of the member said in surprise since it was practically came out of nowhere.
"For tonight all sort of misfortune will befall you. You should be careful young man," she said again with a calm yet grim tone at the same time.
"Was that supposed to be a fortune telling?" Milla asked as she looked at the woman Jun had managed to bump into. She couldn't erase the nagging feeling that she ever met her before but couldn't pinpoint it where.
The woman had long wavy almost curly black hair. She wore a purple Yukata with pink and magenta orchid flower printed on it. Milla being Milla noticed that what the woman meant with 'The Tower' is the one from Tarot Card Arcana Major signaling a calamity. It wouldn't be a stretch to call it a string of bad luck.
"You can call them as one. You too should find yourself in a time where you will need the presence of those you kept close in your heart. And that person would always be there to listen so you need to start trusting," the woman said with a polite tone and a small bowing before she started helping Jun on picking her card.
Milla was stunned to silent since she didn't get what the woman was talking about. Jude merely eyed Milla before half-glaring at the woman, though he didn't notice it. The woman smiled slightly to his direction before she said, "There is something that will remind you of something that you never deemed important before. Have a good time coming to term with it as it will let you become closer with what you wished."
Jude looked to the woman before looking back at Milla who didn't notice his gazes. Leia and Mai were the one who wasn't affected as Mai calmly said, "I wasn't in the place to say this but I think it was pretty rude to tell our fortune when we didn't even ask. No offense but I would like for you to stop it."
The woman lightly giggled as she took her deck of card. With a small bow she then said, "I'm sorry for making your night not enjoyable. If that's what you wish then I shall stop. Pleased to meet you all, my name is Hilda Rhambling. If our paths cross each other again, I would like to know your stories as well. Well then, have a good day."
Then, the woman that goes by the name of Hilda Rhambling walked away until the group couldn't see her anymore. Leia who recovered from the conversation faster than everyone then said, "What was that about?"
And after that initial weird conversation, the group witnessed how Jun was hit by numerous disasters that led into multiples almost hilarious situation. He tripped over nothing and then landed on the trash bin. When they were walking, some kids who were playing with water-filled balloon yoyo oh so incidentally hit him and made him drenched since the balloon were destroyed. Even the most harmless firework became disaster for him.
And just now, Mai managed to land a bottle full of soda on the top of Jun's head. All of it was for random reason since usually Mai was a very careful individual and only Jun's portion that was poured on his head. All they could think was that Jun had the most rotten luck of them all just like what the fortune-teller had told them before.
"Jun-san, are you okay? Should we go to place with lesser people?" Mai asked in soft voice since she was concerned about Jun's feeling. She had lost count on how many suffering Jun had went through the whole day so she think that bringing him to a place with less people around would presumably heal it.
Leia who had stopped laughing had some swings of mood as she inwardly smirked at how Mai helped Jun. Of course she wasn't that stupid to let the chance pass by so she then said, "Well, seeing how your luck run out for the day, how about you two go ahead since we wanted to enjoy the festival a little bit more without someone with rotten luck around."
"We did?" Milla and Jude automatically asked almost in synch. Of course, they had excluded Mai and Jun since Leia mentioned that the three of them were those who need to go.
Leia half-glared at the two and dragged them away as she said, "Have fun you two!"
"So…" Jude started as he looked at Leia who was busy scooping fish. Milla was by Leia's side and was busy looking intently on how Leia tried to scoop a goldfish.
"Here I go!" Leia shouted as she scooped the goldfish only to find that her paper net had a hole on it. She then cried out that she had failed again.
"Well that was a close call. Why you didn't try it as well Jude? This one is quite interesting," Milla replied to Leia before she asked Jude to join them on the game. Milla was already banned on playing by the booth owner since she had, quite literally, made a hole on their fish tank.
"Jude I want to play again!" Leia added with such enthusiasm that made the owner smirk since Leia ultimately suck at this game.
Jude inwardly groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose as he said, "I swear you two will be the end of me one day…"
"Geez Jude, don't be such a killjoy! This is a festival so you should let loose!" Leia commented as she threw both her hands on the air dramatically.
"I thought you might enjoy one or two game… I wanted to see you play as well," Milla commented softly before she eyed the fish tanks.
Jude groaned again since now he was cornered. If he refused then it would make him looked like a real killjoy in Milla's eye, but if he agreed then he would lose his money to pay for Leia. He didn't take too long to come up for an answer and took out his wallet with Leia grinning ear to ear at the sight.
"I'll play but not this one, is it okay for you Milla? And here Leia, don't spend it too much or you won't be able to return it," Jude said as he gave Leia some of his money to shut her mouth.
Milla didn't notice how Leia was very happy that she managed to make Jude play and just looked at Jude as she asked, "I'm okay but… what do you intend to play?"
Jude looked at Milla who had stood before he eyed the shooting booth beside them. Milla who followed his eyes quickly realized and asked again, "Were you good at it?"
Jude laughed nervously and eyed one of the prizes in display before saying, "I won't say that I am that good… but there is a prize there that would make my sister happy."
Milla tilted her head to the side before asking, "You have sister?"
Jude nodded his head lightly before replying, "Yeah. She is still in Junior High and loves cute things very much. What should I say about her… well, you could say I really love her so… well, you will get it when you have a cute little sister?"
Milla nodded her head knowingly since she too had siblings. And then they both visited the shooting booth and left Leia who was still busy trying to scoop a fish. Milla looked over the prize and found that there was nothing to note off since it was particularly normal. She decided to just watch Jude who had already paid for 5 turn for now.
"Hey which one is the prize for your sister that you targeted?" Milla asked as she looked at Jude who was checking on the rifle-like toy. She couldn't help but curious about what Jude would aim.
Jude looked up slightly to see Milla before he pointed a small music box in the middle row and replied with, "That one."
"A music box huh… so I guess your sister love classical music?" Milla asked again since now the music box had caught her interest. It was a normal music box that looked like it was made from wood. There were some engraving made from golden-colored material that made it look classic. It was, certainly, not an antique music box that she would often sees around her house. But, there is this certain charm in it that made it look beautiful.
"She play the piano and was generally fond of instrumental music. Did it count as one then?" Jude replied before asking another question of his as he did another check of the rifle so he didn't miss anything.
She mentally complimented Jude's sense since she found it as a good present for his little sister. She looked around the prize once more and saw a figurine of an Anime that portrayed a magical cat curling up cutely. She was reminded of Muzét when she saw that and decided to give her that for present.
When Milla approached the booth owner, Jude was still aiming his rifle. He wondered why Milla took a gun as well and asked, "So you have something you targeted as well Milla?"
Milla merely smiled as she checks out her weapon. She noticed that it was rigged to the core and decided to fix it for a little bit before saying, "Well, I think it would be fun to join you as well."
"Fair enough," Jude replied before going back to his aim.
Milla was just fixing her rigged-up gun when she saw that Jude had taken his shoot to the music box. If Jude was using the rigged-up gun as well, it wouldn't have enough power to push the box, but he managed it on his first try. Milla clapped lightly at the show and looked at Jude questioningly, wondering whether he noticed about the cheating.
Jude who was given the prize looked at Milla with a knowing smile. Well, of course he noticed as well but decided to not say it verbally since the owner is there and it wouldn't be good for his business. He realized that Milla had known about it as well as she pointed her gun on one of the prize, a figurine of magical cat or something.
'Isn't that thing is the mascot of that Magical Girl Anime that Elize often watch in weekend? So Milla had that kind of interest as well,' Jude mentally thought as he watched Milla aimed the prize intently with hawk-like eyes that was watching its prey.
Milla gained her prize on her first shoot as well and when she was given her prize, Jude asked her, "Are you good at this kind of thing Milla? This is your first time on festival around this place right?"
Milla turned her head to face Jude and replied with, "It is my first time here and my first time going to a shooting booth to play like this. Well, about being good at this, I think my reply is that I'm quite good at this kind of things."
"You are good for your first time Milla… and somewhat you looked like you were used to this as well. Anyway, we still have more turn to do and there is nothing worth doing for now…" Jude complimented Milla though he trailed off his sentence during the end.
Milla looked to Jude and saw that he was eyeing the prize in quite evil gaze. She had her suspicion but didn't think that Jude would propose such a challenge to her so she asked, "Want to make it a competition then?"
"I'm glad you are fast to catch on Milla. Yes, that's what I propose, what is your answer?" Jude replied with a bright smile on his face that looked very scary for bystander. He looked serious on wanting to compete with Milla on this. They had been competing against each other in their grade and while Jude won it, Milla was by no mean far from him. He felt like after he knew Milla, he had a good rival on practically everything.
Milla noticed the look of rivalry before loading her rifle. She wouldn't lie that she felt the rivalry between them and she like it. When she was still in her old school, there were no one she could call as rival, but now there is Jude who could surpass her. She knew she liked the man but having a rival is something she would look forward for if Jude asked for it. With a small smile she said, "I take your challenge. The one who get the most prize win okay?"
"Let's cut the chitchat and talk more with our hands," Jude replied with a grin on his face.
And all hell broke loose.
Leia POV
It took me quite some time to finally scoop a fish from the tank and almost went broke at the same time. I just realized that I was too absorbed on my game to fail to notice that a large crowd was crowding over one of the booth. I was about to forget it when I noticed that both Milla and Jude had disappeared.
"W-what?! They ditched me?!" I shouted quite loudly though my shouting was absorbed by the sound of the crowd around.
I looked around like a missing child since those two had disappeared without saying anything to me. I was about to shout their name when a voice said to me, "Wait, wait, don't shout!"
I looked behind and saw Alvin-sensei was there with a bag of yakisoba with one on his hand was already half-eaten. He waved happily when he saw that I don't shout as he said, "Were you looking for those two spirited young one your highness?"
I rolled my eyes with his overly exaggerated choice of words. I placed both hands on my hips and leaned forward a little before asking, "That is creepy Alvin-sensei. Now I need the answer of my question. Where are Milla and Jude?"
Alvin-sensei laughed heartily at my reply and pointed his fork to a direction behind me. I turned around and found quite a large crowd there with their eyes fixated on something. I turned my attention back to Alvin-sensei who merely said, "If you can penetrate this crowd, you will find both of them in their fight."
"A 'fight'?" I asked Alvin-sensei with his choice of words. I couldn't imagine those two fighting about anything as I watched them for this whole day. If I dared to say it, Jude looked like he holds an interest at Milla. And as far as I knew Jude, he was the most gentlemen around the people he liked and/or respected. He is certainly not the type to raise his fist toward a girl.
Milla didn't look like the type to pick up a fight without reason. Of course, I knew that those who dared to try on laying their (unfortunate) fingers on Milla would get one hell of a nightmare for the rest of their recovery time. Milla isn't the ace of her club for nothing after all. But Milla wouldn't pick up a fight easily since she was all-loved by most of people and only fight when she was forced to do it.
… I couldn't deny that considering their personality and their ability, seeing those two fight it out would be interesting…
Alvin-sensei merely grinned widely when he said, "Just see it, you might find it very interesting as well. They stood on equal footing here."
That was the last hit needed and before my head process it, my body had moved past the crowd of people to the center of them. I really wanted to see what happened to those two since I had a feeling that both of them had the same feeling against each other and it is my job as their wingman to help them in need.
"Excuse me, let me through!"
I needed some more shouting and slipping until I managed to reach the center of the crowd. The first thing that greeted me is a pile… no, two pile of presents that were stacked right in front of me. The second thing that I saw was the crying shooting range owner who went bankrupt thanks to these piles of presents. The owner of these piles of presents is no one else but the shooter, and they are both Jude and Milla.
I had my jaw rolled on the ground seeing the heated fighting between them. They didn't hit each other or something; instead, they just continued shooting something on the present rack. I knew since long that Jude had quite the knack on shooting range. It was something he grew fond of ever since we often went to a festival together when we were still in elementary. Heck my barrette was something that he won on one.
But, I never knew that Milla was an expert at this as well. Her shooting posture was of a professional shooter as she aimed each presents using the toy rifle and shot it with such precision it was amazing. This reminded me about the time when we were in club recruitment week, Milla was swarmed with all sort of sports club captain, archery included. Now I knew why the Archery club captain cried blood when Milla refused since Milla was very good.
'No, it isn't the time to be amazed at their skill… if this kept going on the booth owner will go bankrupt for sure!' I thought as I tried to kick the mental image away from my head as I focused on what's important right now.
Jude and Milla glared at each other with competitive expression. They looked like they had no intention to stop fighting (if that was a fight) as they gripped their respective weapon. I had a feeling that it wouldn't end pretty at all.
"Jude! Milla!" I shouted as to separate them from their rivalry fight. I didn't think they heard me in the midst of their glaring so I shouted once more with more force this time, "YOU TWO CUT IT OUT!"
It finally got their attention (and the attention of the innocent bystanders as well) as they both turned their head to my direction. Milla had a pleased expression when she saw me before she said, "Ah, Leia you came at a good timing. Why you never tell me that Jude is good at this kind of game as well? It was a very entertaining match."
"We had some match and it always ended in a tie isn't it? Maybe you should have entered a shooting club or something like that Milla," Jude replied with a nice happy smile as he gazed at Milla with fond expression as if he had found someone that could be his equal.
I slapped a hand over my forehead since I didn't think that they could be any denser than normal. With an exasperated sigh, I pointed the two piles of presents they won as I said, "And what you will do with these pile of junk?"
Milla tilted her head before she turned her attention to the pile of presents she had generated. Jude did the same with his own pile of presents as he finally noticed that they had gone on long enough. They looked at each other and did this 'no word needed' type of conversation before nodding when they reached a consensus.
"We will give it back, obviously. My original aim is something for my sister," Jude replied before he took his original aim, the music box that he intended to give to Elize.
"I have a use of this one as well… and maybe this necklace as well for a memento," Milla replied as calmly as if there is nothing wrong about what she had said. She took a figurine of a magical cat and a box with a blue glass bead necklace in it.
"That's cute isn't it? Anyway why did you choose that necklace Milla?" Jude commented as he looked at the figurine and the necklace.
Milla merely smiled at the mention of word 'cute' as she took the necklace. When she was wearing it she finally commented, "Well, I'm sure if I look upon this necklace, I will remember the precious time I spent with my precious friends… I never would have thought that festival will be this fun before."
Jude lightly gripped Milla's hands and with careful gesture he said, "I'm glad you enjoy it Milla. Anyway, let's do something else Milla! I will teach you how if you didn't know how."
Milla nodded with a small smile graced her face. Both of them turned to the booth owner and gave back their prize before walking away from the booth hand in hand. As if the crowd response to it, they left one by one to enjoy the festival.
No… it is good and all that they enjoy themselves but… didn't they remember that I was here as well?!
In the midst of my shock, I feel a gentle pat on my head that I instantly looked up. I saw Alvin-sensei was giving me a teasing grin just like that. I pouted in response before I said, "Alvin-sensei… I am alone and forgotten this night. Care to go with me?"
"If this is my favorite patient in infirmary then wasn't I inclined to just agree?" Alvin-sensei replied with a hearty laugh as he offered me a little bit of his food in which I merely agreed to have.
What a festival this turned out to be…
This turned out to be triple date chapter lol. I had a lot of fun writing how Jun messed up his luck and his downed expression (I'm an awful one, I know). Well, I gave him one Mai wrapped in ribbon so I don't think it was that bad lol. Oh yeah, in case you don't know Hilda Rhambling come from Tales of Rebirth. I personally like her since she is beautiful, but too bad Rebirth didn't have any fandom so I guess I stuck with using her as a cameo. Anyway, now that it was done with please give me some review~ the next chapter is going to be the real triple date and the final chapter for the Summer Arc.