Bab 34: [XXXIV] - The Chosen Nine
"Man, let me eat my damn breakfast in peace." — A raised, annoyed voice came to my ears.
As I opened my eyes, I could see the body of the silver-haired hanging above the air, being grabbed by a thick arm of a tall man, I have never seen before.
While Silen was furiously struggling to get himself down, cursing and fumbling like an angry animal, the person holding him stared at me raptly.
An athletic man, taller from me by over 10 centimeters. With his thick, brown eyebrows, raised over a pair of surprised, amber eyes. His ginger hair looking like the rays of the rising sun. The long face of this man, with slightly opened, pink lips, showed an expression of astonishment.
"And this is who?" — The same man asked, with me definitely as a person in question.
"Oh, this rat. He looks better now… Except of that white hospital shirt… Lord, take it off. It makes me sick." — Suddenly, A black-haired man passed next to the orange-haired one, going around the table towards the countertops, giving me only a discontent face.
"Why are you blocking the passage, man? Move your ass." — The tall man holding Silen was pushed asides, with a black-haired woman coming from behind it.
I recognized her…
Seeing me, she stopped, slightly shocked, but just after a second continued to move towards the counters too, just giving out an annoyed: "Oh, it's our fugitive. Almost made me die last time."
Aura. As sly as she made me remember her.
"Who are you talking about?" — Another person came from the darkness of the corridors, following the black-haired woman behind.
A short and curvy girl with a storm of curly blonde hair jumping with her every step, her round, freckled face turned red from seeing me. A pair of dark, shiny brown eyes turned their attention at my person, which was awkwardly standing there, getting more and more stomach pain from the number of people suddenly coming inside.
Just how many more of them are there…
Yet, the girl only smiled at me, and waved, saying: "Oooh. You're the new guy! Hi! I'm Meridies! Nice to meet you!"
Going up to the table, she sat down on one of the chairs, facing me, and just stared inquisitively, while the other two were messing up with the countertops behind her.
"Can you fucking let me down already?!?" — The raised up voice of Silen yelled through the room, making me come to my senses and turn my attention back to those two.
"Shut the fuck up." — The two black-hairs at the back of the room exclaimed at once.
"You're still gonna be naughty?" — A curious and teasing voice of the orange-haired asked him.
"No. No. Let me down, please."
"I'm not sure."
"Oh please."
"If you apologize to him, then I will." — The ginger pointed at me with his head.
"...Ughhh. Okay." — Silen finally let off his stubbornness and agreed to this transaction.
But he wasn't let go, but instead brought up still hanging before me. Face to face, I felt quite anxious with him so close, and his piercing gray eyes madly glaring into mine.
"Okay. It's your time to shine." — The man holding him said.
"...Hmmmpf." — The silver-haired quietly mumbled out something out of his mouth.
"Did you hear him?!" — He asked me.
But I shook my head in disapproval.
Now, I didn't see Silen's face in my sight anymore. He was being risen up higher and higher, until he finally broke.
"Okay! Okay. I'm sorry! I apologize. I said it. Let me fucking go!" — He struggled, desperately having enough of flying half a meter above the floor.
"For me, it wouldn't be enough. But no one wants you wailing like a dog now, so shut up and don't make anymore trouble." — The man finally dropped him off, making Silen fall to the floor with a soundly impact. Once again in 10 minutes. His face covered in agony could tell it all.
With him rolling before my feet once again, I didn't have a wall between me and the orange haired right now.
He turned his face towards me, and with a wide smile reach his hand forwards.
"I'm Ignis. Sorry to meet you by such circumstances. This prick never learns his lesson." — A cheerful voice came out of this man's body.
Observing this man, I muttered these words out:
"I'm… Asha… Nice to meet you." — I reached my hand in return.
When both of them touched, in a solid grasp, I could feel a weird energy suddenly filling up my arm. But it seemed I was the only one feeling such thing.
"Asha? That's not Latin. What does it mean?" — A curious voice of Meridies came from behind me, leaning her head against her hand.
"If I'm correct, This name could have an arabic etymology, meaning 'alive and well', but it could also come from Hebrew 'happy'. Yet, I think the most accurate one is the hindi meaning, 'hope'. " — Coming from next to me, I saw a brown-haired man walking inside of the room from the other passage.
His emerald-green eyes curiously watching me from behind a rectangle pair of glasses, his interested face was mostly covered up in his messy, hair.
"Woah, You know so much!" — Meridies exclaimed passionately.
He was visibly glad and embarrassed by the sentence he heard from the girl, because of his cheeks growing pink.
"This nerd Bellus doesn't do anything else other than being locked inside of his room all day. You expect him to be not well-read?" — Aura pushed away the compliment towards the man who just came inside of the room, which made him come back to the face he had before.
"Hmpf. You're such a meanie." — Meridies responded to Aura, which I didn't notice earlier, was preparing something steamy in the back of the room.
Ignis, and the other one which name was probably Bellus, went up to the other two, which were absorbed in some unknown to me actions.
Even Silen stood up from the ground, and after shaking off his clothes from the dirt, he walked past me, only giving me a mad glare. Sitting in a chair back to me, he just sighed and let his head fall on a hand that supported it.
And the others… They created a group of moving operators of devices I probably have never seen before.
All of this time, Aura and Noctis were preparing something, using the panels that magically showed up before them. Pushing the virtual buttons here and there, emitting weird sounds, things materialized in the air before them, starting to sizzle and steam, making the whole room be filled with delicious smell. My stomach rumbled like a machine gun working. It made each of them react in their own way.
"Oh… That was so loud… When was the last time you've eaten?" — The blonde-haired girl was evidently surprised, giving me a pitying look.
Well… I don't know that for myself…
"Very long ago." — Three green words appeared in the air between Meridies and Aura, which were sitting one chair away from each other.
"Ah! Aura's cooking is the best! Today, she's making some protein buns with minced veggie filling! Yum! I bet you'll enjoy it!" — A joyful voice of the blonde girl explained.
"Not if you're not going to help. These men are just all disturbing me, standing like pillars and doing shit. What a nuisance." — Aura annoyingly added, while pushing in between the other three men standing by the counters, which were doing things all on their own.
Meridies happily stood up from her place and went to the black-haired girl, trying to watch her actions and help a bit.
"Hey. Acting like the main chief. Leave me some space. Not everyone likes that spicy hell you make." — Noctis annoyingly shouted, as Aura hustled him back of the counter, to make some space for Meridies.
"Then don't take half of the space yourself, while you're just making a coffee dipped starch snot, sleepless dumbass."
"Hey. Why are you all arguing with yourself. The new guy will think about all of us the worst." — Ignis exclaimed to both of them, which made them calm their fighting sparks a little. — "So sorry for them… Why are you still standing? Sit down."
He pointed towards the table, while eagerly preparing something with Bellus.
He definitely tried to take some initiative in making me feel comfortably. Ignis, in the short time I've known him, he showed leadership skills, being confident in his words. Getting Silen to abandon his childish behaviors, there must be some more power behind his person.
With two of the seats already taken, one on my side, by annoyed Silen, and the second on the other side, by Stella, I didn't have many options to rethink. Sitting at the same table as Silen, I would feel uncomfortable, but there was no rejecting an offer to sit down, especially when I'm hungry. So, I pushed the idea of even sitting at the same side as him, and hesitated with sitting near Stella. So, choosing the best option, I went to one of the single chairs that were put by the end of the table, the one by the passage. Carefully sitting down, my nerves were racing inside of me like the electricity in the cords. Staring at the table, I tried to avoid Silen's petrifying glare, which with the corner of my eyes I saw somewhere from his direction.
But staring like this was uncomfortable, too. So I looked around.
One… Two… Three…
…Seven…
There were seven people inside of here, except me, the eight one. So many members at once, a few of them meeting me for the first time… I…
I haven't shown anything to them yet. Not a sign of emotion. Just an awkwardness and silence, standing still and now sitting still, watching them all work, remaining useless and waiting for an act of pity. For someone giving me their attention, which is normal by now, as I'm new. But when they all get to know me… I wonder how will they all act towards me…
A stubborn person, with unstable emotions and outburst of anger and despair…
Will I be left all alone as I was for all of those years… Will I be picked as an object of laughter and humiliation? Or…
Maybe these people aren't bad at all, and…
Will be good companions after all…
"Oh! You picked Orbis's favorite place!" — Meridies turned her attention to me, as she was transferring steaming buns from plate to plate.
Wait…
There was eight of us here.
Out of nine.
…
"Huh? Who dares to sit at my pla-" — A low voice coming from behind me abruptly stopped at the end of the sentence.
Chills went down my spine, making me petrify in place.
This voice.
I didn't want to turn around to see the face of this man. I already knew who he was.
Yet, the stinging curiosity and scorching anxiety made me break.
Slowly turning my head, gulping the thick saliva stuck in my throat, after seeing his terrified face, I wished I wouldn't do that.
I wished I have never stepped here.
My eyes opened widely, to the point the bright light and floating steam made them a bit teary.
Never.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone