Me and Ali Had Walked About 30 Minutes In The Shivering Cold of Neo city.
Since I had giving my jacket to ali I was way more colder than ali could ever be. My wrist had gone numb and finger were like stone carvings. I was Hoping for sweet succulent grip of hot chocolate or hot soup… or anything to make me warm!
Cael: It looks like We're here!
I said Hopefully, looking up at the restaurant.
The Establishment in front of me was Named 'Golden Fortune'.
The Name Made It sound Like it wasnt even restaurant at all But some sort of Fortune telling Place or the congregation of an physic ward.
It was The Family owned Place of Our Friend Meimei... But Regardless It Apparently was a Very Popular One, Because The line leading into Restaurant was almost full.
Ali: *Sigh*, I hope they saved us A seat
Cael: heh! Knowing taka he probably saved us an entire section!
Ali snickered at my awful and then we both went inside.
The Restaurant itself was of an eastern theme with a red background with Dragons and Lanterns on the wall
The whole place was painted with red and yellow and had a Old style feeling to it. It was truly a exemplary of architecture.
The restaurant was full. I looked around at the busy tables. An old couple eating side by side, one glass of wine each, studiously bent over their meals. A group of young women in their thirties collapsing with giggles as a stern woman dining alone nearby looked on and frowned. Businessmen in their grey suits lighting up cigars.
Ali: There they are!
Alison chanted.
I Looked over to see 4 Figures Sitting in a round table Booth, They Were of course My friends. Yubie of course Had Made It there Before Us. But There Were Three Other Figures That I recognized.
The First and The One The called This Meeting was Takashi Endo.
He was A bit of a Snob and Self Absorbed, But Has A determination that You Dont really See In alot of People These days. and I respected That.
I Recognized him from a mile away with His dark Blue Hair and medallion On His sleeve. He was wearing school uniform like we and Ali But with A more Proper Look and prissy outlook.
Taka: Ah! Its About time you two Showed Up! It's almost a crime to Make Someone Like Me wait!
He Said To us.
Cael: Ya sorry, It was Kinda Hard to navigate in Negative 15 degrees Celsius weather.
I said But then Another Voice "Corrected" me.
?: Actually... There Is No such thing As Negative Celsius, Nothing can go below zero On the Kelvin Scale.
She Corrected.
The One Who Did so was... Ohsaka Matsushiba
She was An Foreign student who we had Befriended, She was Cold and stoic At times But I could tell She Meant Well. She Had Bluish-white Hair Scheme With A Headband over her head and she always wore an orange small jacket around her chest.
Cael: Thanks Professor.
I said sarcastically back to her.
She scoffed and turned back to Her food.
?: Cael... How is Your wrist doing?...
The Third Person asked. That Third Person was Rhaja Al-Shira
She was A Meek and shy Girl, She was small framed and Had Brown Hair and green eyes.
She usually didnt say much but when she did she always Paused briefly After Each Sentence.
Cael: its been Healing up Nice; I reckon!
I Replied.
Rhaja: nice…
She Smiled and I smiled back to hber
Taka: I Hope That You all Have Gotten The Formalities Out of The way, Now Then Lets Start this Meeting
Taka Stood Up and Then Looked At us all.
Taka: We have a lot of work to do...
I nodded and agreed, we had our work cut out for us to say the least.
Me and Ali sat down at the booth with the rest of the gang, As More people started to enter the restaurant so we were Forced To sit down really tightly together. Our shoulders met and collided when we sat down and we soon realized that we couldn't all fit in this booth.
Cael: Uh… I don't think we can all fit.
Yubie: Well then, One of you Nu-males need to stand! It's rude to have us queens being squished in like this!
Yubie dramatically exclaimed.
I looked at taka and he looked back at me.
Cael: *sigh* I'll stand.
Taka: No, cael. You already walked all the way here. I'll do it.
Cael: Are ya sure taka?
Taka: Yeah. it seems like good exercise, I guess
He joked.
Cael: well… if you insist.
Taka got up and stood right beside the booth, There was an awkward silence though Around us as Taka had stood up, -As he would have to stand there for the duration of the time we spent there. Wishing to break the ice I started by Asking:
Cael: Uh… Hey Guys… Meimei isn't here,Right?
Meimei was an annoying waiter who always tended to hit on me whenever came into this restaurant. She Was Wearing A Pink and Yellow chinese Dress With Bangs In her Hair, meimei Had Freckles And Her Hair Color Was Black And Generally smaller Than the Rest Of us Meimei For Some Weird Reason Was Infatuated with Me, It started Out kind f Innocent But Now Its Annoying.
Ohsaka: Nah. I think she's sick or something.
Cael: Oh.
On second thought, I felt bad for asking.
Taka: -Well at least with her gone we can finally discuss our problem.
Ali: W-What problem?
Ali asked.
Taka: Were In the quarter finals of The tournament and Its Likely That One of You Three Will Be facing Each other
He explained.
(Ah...) We Had all entered The tournament For The grand prize Which was 6 Million Neo city Credits, there were six at the start but now there is only the three of us. Me, yubie and ohsaka. Ali And Rhaja had been eliminated in the first round and Taka had been personally eliminated in The third round by me.
Ohsaka: Were Bound To Face Each Other Eventually. So whats even the big deal?
Taka: The Big Deal Is That, We'll Only Have 1 Person Left In The Semi-Finals!
Taka Concluded.
Cael: Taka, The Possibility That two of us will face Each Other Is pretty Low, at Least in This round.
Cael: If we include the other 5 finalists…. There's only a 12.5% chance of us will get into a match with one another
Taka scoffed.
Taka: But what about next round? Assuming that you all win in this round you're almost guaranteed to face one another!
He exclaimed.
Ohsaka: Does it matter? As long as we win the tournament then who cares?
Taka: I care! what if one of us gets greedy and-
Yubie: Enough!
Yubie shouted.
Yubie: You simpletons have crowded this talk with Menial talk. But I've actually got something of substance to talk about.
Taka: What are you even-
Before taka could finish his sentence, yubie pulled an envelope from her breast pocket. It was purple and covered with red stripes, The envelope appeared to be already opened and although it's content was still inside,. we all looked at it with curiousity and reverence.
Cael: Um… What exactly are we looking at?
Yubie: An Envelope!
Ohsaka: Oh wow an envelope... How exciting Yubie. Gonna show us your E-mails too?
Ohsaka said sarcastically.
Yubie: No, you Aleck sorceress! Its whats Inside The envelope!
Yubie Quipped Back.
She pulled out of the envelope A letter With Red Words scrambled on the top
" TO ALL QUARTER FINALISTS" -In bold letters.
Ali: I-It must an invitation.
Yubie: Yes yes, But You Must read what's Inside of it, First!
I Was A bit Hesitant at First But Then Reading it filled me with more uncertainty
It Read:
{Dear All Quarter Finalists
I write to You As You 8 Are the best duelists of This City And I want Congratulate You all For making it this Far. As Such Ive Prepared A Celebration In You all's Honor
So Please, Lets all Have Dinner At My Mansion Tomorrow at 8:00
From Your Tournament Host
- Valor Von Aries}
The Letter Was short and to The Point, Von Aries wanted us To meet With Him at his Mansion
Ohsaka looked at the Letter and commented:
Ohsaka: This is adressed to all Quarter finalists... Meaning ee all likely got It in the Mail too
Cael: this is a physical Letter..., crap I guess I need to check My mailbox when I get home...
Taka: Well we are In The 2070s Not like anyone still sends letter anymore.
Taka said sarcastically. He was Right, It wasnt typical for people these days to send Envelope Letters to anyone's house.
Rhaja: He must Be a... very old fashioned man... I respect That... Rhaja Added
Taka: Now with this being read, Are You three Going to this 'event?
Taka questioned.
Cael: Ya, sure. Not like I have anything going on tomorrow.
Ohsaka: I'll go too.
Yubie: Hmph. I don't want to be outclassed by you plebs. Sure I will definitely go.
Ohsaka and Yubie agreed. With that being I was curious about the other "champions" as Von Aries put it.
Cael: hey taka, Do you who the other 5 champions are?
I asked.
Taka snarled.
Taka: You assumed I would?
Cael: Well yeah. You're kind of a nerd when it comes to things like this.
Taka: …. Screw you.
Taka: But yeah I do know 3 of them.
Ali: Well tell us!
Taka: Ok little miss. The first one that I assume that you all know about is Leonaidis Biancho. I don't think we need any introductions here right…?
Everyone paused and looked at my wrist.
Cael: Whatever…
Taka: He's the son of the corporate zeitgeist that is biancho corp. Basically undefeated in duel monsters and a general show-off. He's gonna be a tough opponent.
Taka: The next one I know about is Pocah Tequila. She's a young spiritualist who believes that if you pray to the spirits they can do almost anything for ya. It seems to have worked if she's made it this far.
Taka joked.
Taka: The next one is…. Azuma Tenkojin. He's from the Tenkojin protectorate which is outside of Neocia. He's quite an arrogant fellow and looks down on strategy. Only preferring brute force.
Cael: Those seem like quite cast of characters. -But you don't know the who other two are?
Taka: Nah. Only their first names. Neville and Julia. I couldn't tell you anything else about them.
Cael: Well gee. It seems like we have our work cut out for us.
Yubie: I'm not imtimediated. I'll destroy any Mortal who gets in my way!
Ohsaka: *Pop* What she said.
Cael: Thats the spirit!
I chuckled. It's nice being friends or people you can talk with. -Even if they are a bunch of weirdos.
Waiter: 訂購
The waitress yelled something in chinese, probably akin to "Order up!"
In her hands were Six plates. All with delicious traditional food in them.
*Clank clack* Like a acrobat she spun around and precisely through our plates into the air and they landed on the table all in front everybody. We all smiled at her and our own antics and prepared for the day of destiny - Tomorrow.