Zatch Bell: Kolulu Story
By:CleruSonofShintetsu
[Kolulu Story, Gash Cafe 1: Reycom and Hyde]
It's a warm spring day at the Gash Cafe, and thanks to some narrative fandangling, we were able to bring the Cafe to a brand new storyline! Today's duo being none other than two very familiar beings, the first two Mamodo that Zatch ever fought, both claiming the title of his first foe in their own way, Reycom and Hyde!
Reycom has a plate of three different kinds of frozen fish: Yellowtail, Salmon, and Tuna. He also has ice-cold cola soda in two cans, and a stamped sugar cookie with strawberry jam inside, the stamp being of the traditional spell book glyph. Notably, this cookie is often a delicacy only rich people usually get to snack down on after the main course, and there's usually two or three per person! Seems the Cafe truly does have everything doesnt it?
Hyde, meanwhile, has a plate with finely cooked and breaded chicken, with barbecue sauce and non-descript fish sauce in plastic dip cups. He also has root beer in a glass, and a bag of salty nachos. Overall, a pretty basic meal with little else to say.
Hosakawa and Eido finished placing their dishes down.
"I don't recall feeding a tool, but this one IS a living, breathing kid, so..." Hosakawa mused as he scratched the back of his neck.
Eido squinted at Hosakawa and shook his head, before looking back at the boys at the table.
"So, little dudes," Eido began, "while you're enjoying yourselves, we got some questions from...somewhere." he said, having forgotten where these questions came from.
Reycom said, with his mouth full, "Shoot."
Hyde nodded in agreement while sipping his root beer.
"Alright, first question; Can the boys please tell us a bit about themselves and their families?" Eido asked, reading from the first card.
After a moment of Reycom and Hyde staring at each other in awkward silence, Hyde sighed and went first.
"Fine...alright, so my family is very...free flowing. I have a mom, dad, an uncle, and an older cousin. I also had an aunt but...she never made it through childbirth..." he said, that last part causing a brief moment of silence from the group before he continued.
"Dad and mom are both messengers, funny enough, having met in the same messenger guild, one which prioritized mamodo with magic that let them reach places really fast. Even more coincidentally, they both had the same kind of wind magic that I do, and my mom is SO good at her job that she's one of THE royal messengers." he said, a bit of pride in his parents coming out near the end of his explanation.
Eido then asked, "And your uncle? Is he anywhere near as cool?"
Hyde stared at him for a moment and slowly nodded. "I guess...he's a cook, for the army. He has off-time and throws big barbecues that totally don't strain his wallet or anything...then there's my knuckle-headed cousin." he said, looking annoyed now.
Reycom finished his first fish and swallowed the last piece before asking, "What's wrong with him?"
Hyde threw his hands into the air, "He's a sleazy flirtatious idiot with no standards, sounds familiar actually." he said, staring at Eido for a moment.
Eido took a moment longer than he cared to admit before finally realizing what Hyde was getting at. "Hey! Don't make me kick you out of the cafe!"
Reycom snorted in amusement, "How? You don't own the cafe...Willy does."
Hosakawa tilted his head, "Who?"
Reycom looked up at Hosakawa, "Willy, the guy with that stupid puffy white hair? Never has his mamodo with him but always has his spell book?"
Hosakawa snapped his fingers and nodded, "Right, that guy...kinda lanky and tired looking but...let's not say too much, I have enough issues with bosses as is..."
Eido raised an eyebrow, "Weren't you fired for nonsense reasons? I think that won't save you this time if you keep going. Snarkiness requires class, ya see?" he said with a simple hand motion.
"Tch, shaddup you skateboarding punk! I think its Reycom's turn, now." Hosakawa bit back, pulling out the next card. "Just answer your half of the question already so we can move on to question two!"
Reycom nodded and leaned back as he bit the tail of the second fish clean off. "Well...I'm not as fortunate as Hyde. Grew up poor as dirt, had to steal to survive, and that school was basically the only place with any remotely decent living space for me."
He then continued after sipping his soda. "Got a single dad who adopted me, but even then he couldn't do much once the money started getting tight. He was an underground arena fighter who shifted from ring to ring whenever one was found and canned by the guards...stars help you if Black Knight charged in and nearly impaled people in a blood rage."
Hyde cringed visibly, "Dude, you mean that creepy centaur that has a VERY specific hatred for physically turning around? What's that guy's problem anyway?"
Reycom shrugged, then continued, "I just...lived a tough life so far. Not much else, and especially nothing crazy, happened. Then I met this big lug and we came to our agreement." he said, pointing back at Hosakawa with his thumb.
"And THAT leads us to question two, this one's for you and I kiddo." Hosakawa said as he read the card. "Wait...what in the..."
"What's wrong? Read the card, man." Eido urged with a light hand motion.
Hosakawa rolled his eyes and read it. "Dear Reycom and Hosakawa, though not the worst relationship between book owner and mamodo we've seen, you're definitely one of the most uniquely toxic of all. Are you really supposed to be radical bad dudes to be feared, or is this stemming from insecurity and desperation...? What kind of question is that!? This cafe needs better standards, damn it!" He said, throwing the card on the ground.
Then he sighed, "Fine...I'll enlighten you, but ONLY because I get to feature in the Gash Cafe at all, and I suppose I believe in repaying debts. The kid really did change my life around in a way." he started, folding his arms and looking out the window.
"I was an unappreciated frontline worker at a delivery service. It wasn't exactly the retail nightmare, I could do far worse...but the bosses were CLASSIC corporate pigs with no sense of value for their workers." he continued. "When Reycom gave me a chance for glory, he helped me in SPADES, I was even gonna reward the tool with a new outfit entirely, like decorating a hammer with gold and glitz."
Hyde smirked, "Tell us how you really feel~" he taunted.
"You shut up." said Hosakawa, before moving on. "Anyway, don't get any stupid ideas, we both used each other, we both enjoyed it, because we both knew we'd benefit for it in spades. But uhh, I have a question for Reycom actually..." he said, before snapping at Reycom with outrage. "IN WHAT WORLD WAS IT A GOOD IDEA TO NOT TELL ME ABOUT THE BATTLE FOR THE THRONE!?"
Reycom could barely stifle his laughter. "Because it was funny at the time."
"Besides," Eido cut in, "even if he did, you still would have lost to Zatch and Kiyo. You seemed a bit too preoccupied on your robbery stuff at that point."
"Oh shut up! Let's just move on to the last question already!" Hosakawa stomped and protested.
Eido shrugged with a smirk, "Alright alright, here it is. Question three; dear Hyde, do I sense a little-" he started to snicker, barely holding back an explosion of laughter.
Hyde tensed up and glared at him. "What did they ask? What did they ask!? Hey idiot, pull it together and finish, I dare you, no guts!" he said, pointing at Eido.
Hosakawa peeked over at the card and even he couldnt help but be amused. "Y-yeah...you should finish."
Eido took two deep breaths to calm down, and continued reading. "...doIsensealittlecrushdevelopingonacertaingirlyouknoworwhat?" he said rapidly, causing Hosakawa to blow up with laughter, with Reycom hiding his face behind the last frozen fish and turning red with laughter, and Eido losing his marbles.
Hyde blushed heavily and flipped his now empty plate, "AND WE'RE DONE! CAFE OVER, I'LL BREAK YOUR KNEES, LOSER!" he said in an exaggerated outrage.
Well folks, it seems this ended in a rather amusing manner! But if you want some reassurance, my sources say that everyone did enjoy it, and they all had fun, barring Hyde during the last question!
Stay tuned for the next Gash Cafe, there's one at the end of every story arc! See you around, dear reader!