"We aren't playing Sea of Thieves!" Lalu retorted, on the phone again with Leana. "It's just a very good opportunity to be a cool pirate, but with magic and medieval fantasy, and hot people. Come on, Holly already moved some beds onto the ship for us!" He could hear Leana sigh across the phone. "Fine, I guess it could be a good chance to get out of the house. How about this Saturday?"
"Perfect. I can get Virto and Ola in it too. We can do a bounty mission and everything!"
"Right right…Is that all you wanted?"
"Yep." Lalu hung up. He forgot to say goodbye, but who cared, he had a pirate night planned! Now though, it was time to check in on an old friend. He started packing some clothes into his travel bag, although something still felt off. He was wondering if he had forgotten something…
"Fola!" He heard his mom yell. He hopped out of bed, stretching while leaning on the wall. He had slept in just his underwear, and lazily searched around for the fasted thing he could put on.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" A feminine voice came from his bed. From the ceiling, a fuzzy tail dropped down, holding a set of clothes for him to throw on. "You don't want to get caught with only underwear on~"
"Thanks Issia," Lalu groggily said, quickly putting on the set of pajamas. After a quick kiss of the tail and going through the door, he was greeted by a hailstorm of Nerf darts bouncing off his face. "Rah!" He said swiping the umpteenth one out of the way and bearing his teeth.
"Ahhh!" Dami and Kunmi said, quickly running into the guest room with foam blasters in hand. He kept up easily, putting a foot in the door before they could slam it shut. "Now, you two made one mistake!" He said, grabbing the knob. "You messed with the wrong- ack-"
In the room, Lily and the quadruplets all stood, aiming their own Nerf blasters at Lalu's head. His brother and cousin stood behind them, smiling.
"Son of a-"
"Fire!" Dami said, giving the signal to unleash bullet hell on his older brother. His mom could hear the screams from upstairs, shaking her head while she cut up onions for stew. "That boy can go to war with devils but can't even follow a simple instruction…" she murmured.
"So do you always do this without goggles ma'am?" Gracie said, holding a notebook with tears tumbling down her face. She was shadowing his mom around, writing down new recipes to use for her orphanage. She was having a hard time watching though, having to wipe her eyes every few moments with the counter covered in cut onions.
"You get used to it," his mom said. As she put everything into a stew pot, Lalu finally made it down the stairs, covered in sticky Nerf darts. "Now didn't you hear me call you?" She said, Gracie hiding a laugh behind her palm.
"Yes mommy…" Lalu grumbled, taking a dart from out of his mouth.
"And that is what you get for not listening," She said smirking. "Can you take out the trash for me? That's all I needed." He nodded and trekked outside, moving the trash can to the front of the house. He was picking off the darts when he spotted Virto, jogging along with Vargas on the other side of the street. Vargas had everything hidden under a tracksuit and a beanie, and was sweating for it. Virto, on the other hand, was fine, although they did look pretty gassed. "Hey, Lalu!" They called to him breathlessly.
"Virto, hey!" Lalu shouted back waving. "And Vargas, what's up?"
"Oh nothing, we're just going on our first jog across the neighborhood together," Virto said, hooking their arm around Vargas. "He said, and I quote, 'I want to work up a sweat with you today', isn't that right?" They spoke as if they were teasing him, watching their husband blush and look the other way. "I think you misunderstood what I meant…" he said. He looked nowhere near out of breath being a Yokai, but wearing such heavy clothes made for abysmal conditions underneath the tracksuit. "Is there a nice fan we could get in front of, or an igloo?"
"Oh, you'll be fine!" Virto said, poking his chest before turning back to Lalu. "We're gonna keep circling around the block a bit more. You want to come with?"
"No can do today," Lalu said. "You go on without me. There's someone I'm meeting up with."
"Suit yourself. Come on Vargas, you heard the man!" They spurred the fox on with a slap on the ass, getting him going before getting up to jogging speed themselves. Lalu kept going, moving the trash out and stopping at the bus stop to wait for one to pass.
Once the bus got there, he took the trip into the inner part of the city. He passed through the campus, seeing the new library halfway built now on his left. "I wonder if they ever got that treasure…" Lalu said to himself, the bus engine churning him past.
He continued on, getting off in front of a small coffee shop. As he went inside, he scanned the place for any patrons sitting alone. He found one with a blond ponytail and a forward-facing cap that covered her eyes. Long sleeves covered her skin on a particularly hot day. Looking behind her, he saw something that looked suspiciously like the handle guard to a rapier, tucked between her and the wall. Jackpot.
"Hey," Lalu said, sitting down across the table from her. She didn't say anything, tapping the table with her index finger. Lalu moved his hand closer to her, letting her pick it up to take a couple of sniffs.
"Golden boy, so you finally decided to show?" She said, pulling her hat further down to hide her face. She leaned close to Lalu, hushing her voice so that the only one who could hear her was him. "I was beginning to think you were a no-show. And I think you know what happens when you waste my time."
"I assure you, I would never let a murder spree happen. At least not so close to my house," Lalu said, retreating his hand to take out a notepad.
"So what are you thinking?" she asked, looking down at what he was holding.
"Well, I've been thinking. We always come across enemies that seem pretty radicalized, on both sides of the ball," he said, taking a pen out from out behind his ear. "Why do you think that is?"
"Because they are idiots?" She guessed.
"Exactly," Lalu said, flipping through some pages. "Which is why I have an idea. One that doesn't involve fighting idiots. One that can save so many lives, and one that would get Geo's approval for some land grabs."
"I personally don't mind the fighting," she said. "More blood for my rapier."
"Well I do," Lalu said. "Although, I'm going to need your help for it."
"And why would I help someone prevent combat? Especially when that someone is you?" she asked. "You're out of your league if you think you can convince me of that."
"I figured you may feel that way," Lalu said. "But what if I told you, you would be training the next generation how to fight just like you?"
"C-children!?" She blurted out. She looked around, faking a hacking cough before leaning back in to whisper. "I hate children…"
"Which is exactly why you would be the right person for the job," Lalu said, smiling. "You can't be a tough duelist without some roughing up a bit can't you?"
"Oho. And now you're asking me to beat up kids? I can't believe you…" she said shaking her head. "…honestly, I fucking hate you. And I especially hate…how well you know me."
"You've been rocking with me since the beginning, I know you wouldn't pass up the chance to kick a bunch of people into the ground a couple of times," Lalu said, holding out a hand. "What do you say, wanna help me start an academy?"
"Heh, are we that old now?" she said, lifting up her head. Her eyes were bright red, and her smile had fangs that almost came out in front of her bottom lip. When she shook Lalu's hand, it sent chilly shivers down his spine. It felt all so familiar. "Because this sounds like you're ready to hang up your weapons. You've seen enough action for one lifetime, Lao?"
"Oh hell no," Lalu denied. "In fact, I think the bounty hunts are only going to get bloodier than ever before, Melisa."
And that's the arc! If you noticed or didn't notice, I am doing a double post today! I missed a cycle anyway, so to make it up to yall, I am posting the two-parter finally right here!
Hope you enjoyed the story, and see you for the next arc!