When Noah touched his communicator, his sister’s bright voice immediately started replaying in his ear:
“Sorry, brother. Can’t take you out for lunch. A bunch of burn victims popped in. ╮(╯▽╰)╭ My time is totally booked for today, and probably for the following days as well. A real pity…”
A pity indeed. Noah nodded his head in agreement.
“…especially because Levi was supposed to join us today.”
Noah’s thoughts screeched to a halt. Nani? Brother-in-law was supposed to come to Concordia today?( ゚Д゚)
After a brief pause to lament her own bad luck, Aris’s sister continued chirping in what seemed to be a coy tone: “Since I can’t make it, you’ll have to go in my stead. ^_^ I already let him know you’ll pick him up at 12 at the train station. 👍”
“Oh, and I forgot to mention it, but he, just like you, freed up his schedule for the following days so he could finally get to know his in-laws before the marriage! Isn’t that nice? Make sure to properly show him around town on my behalf.”
Say what?! I have to do what?!
Noah, who had already started walking towards the exit, tripped and nearly fell. Thankfully, Trey was very quick to wrap his arms around his waist to stabilize him.
In his confused agitation, Noah didn’t even notice how Trey’s arms lingered around his waist longer than necessary, and only reluctantly pulled back after an internal struggle.
His sister continued: “Go on, you boys have fun! o(≧▽≦)o” And then paused to send him an air smooch, “Mwah! Good luck! Fighting! You can do it! ❤”
What do you mean good luck?!? Couldn’t you have said anything that would be even remotely helpful?!? Like, say, your original plans for today?! Or brother-in-law’s hobbies! Likes? Not even dislikes?!? What am I supposed to do with brother-in-law for an entire day?!?
щ(゚Д゚щ)
You can’t do this to me, sis!! You are setting me up for death here!!! 〒▽〒
A beep signaled the end of the voice message.
Noah nearly flipped his shit then and there.
Now, if you are wondering why the news that he’d have to entertain his future brother-in-law all by himself, came as a shock to Noah, it is because the two of them were for all intents and purposes, complete strangers. And, of course, because Astar Levi wasn’t exactly a social butterfly, he was more famous for avoiding social contact like the plague.
Yep, this mighty stud very much preferred his solitude, thus if you ever saw him at a social event, your eyes must be playing tricks on you. Aris’s only memories of this soon-to-be brother-in-law were from when Aris was a kid. They met at someone’s birthday party that Levi had been forced to attend by his parents. The two haven’t spoken a single word to each other. At the time, 6 years of an age gap seemed pretty huge; one was just a primary-school little kid, and the other a rebellious teen; the two didn’t have much to speak to each other about.
However, even then, Aris’s impression of Levi was very clear. Reticent nature that treasured his words like gold coupled with an aggressive aura of a wild wolf.
The fact that the Cordias and Astars had a marriage agreement between them for decades, and Aris had yet to officially meet this brother-in-law was a clear testament of how unapproachable he was.
Which, to be fair, probably wasn’t all his fault. Their two families weren’t known for being on good terms with each other.
Astar Levi was the only son of the city lord of Astarea city and thus, by default, its future city lord. Astarea city was a next-door neighbor to the Concordia city, and the two had a long history of conflict between them. If it wasn’t a dispute around jurisdiction and territory, then it was a conflict over their differing views. Concordia was all about ethics, peace, and harmony, while Astarea was more… direct with the way they did things. They often skirted around the ethics in favor of solving it with a strong-handed approach.
In fact, there was no clearer display of just how different the two families were than to look at the powers of their three children. Cordias had a Healer and a Soother. Astars? Heh, an Enforcer who could pulverize things with his mind…
It was only in their parents’ generation that the two decided to bury the hatchet and combine the two cities in marriage. And thus, firstborns of both families had been set up to be married even before they were born.
Thankfully, what started as a mere political agreement, over the years of interaction between the two parties involved, turned into a real relationship.
Noah was happy that his sister and her future husband made a good and harmonious couple, but he naturally had some reservations about his first official meeting with brother-in-law being under such circumstances!!
Wouldn’t this future family member feel uncomfortable being forced into such a situation?! Sending a socially awkward Enforcer on a lunch date with a near-stranger is a recipe for disaster!! (◞‸ლ)
Noah let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his temples.
Ah, forget it. What should come will still come in the end. Noah would just have to put in some extra effort to make this loner wolf of a brother-in-law feel comfortable with his presence. Since his sister liked him, that meant that he was a cool dude underneath all those spikes. So, who knows? Maybe the two of them would hit it off just fine.
Alright, so he would pick Levi up at 12.
Wait… why did that number seem so familiar? 🤔
Noah’s eyes dropped down to his wrist where his smartwatch was displaying the current time in big white numbers: 12:10
…Fuck.
Astar Levi stood, leaning on a wall near the exit of the train station. The transparent screen projected in front of him by his communicator showed many new, just published news articles with new ones popping up every minute.“Cordia Aris saves the day”, “Horrifying power rampage in Concordia city”, “Over a hundred injured by a Blazer”, “This is why highly dangerous power users should not be allowed to roam freely”, “An accident or an act of terrorism” were some of the phrases his eyes caught while he scrolled.
Levi must have gotten out of bed the wrong way today, otherwise why would he be feeling so strange?Getting no response from the other party, Noah continued in a tone that was two parts guilty, three parts regretful, and five parts apologetic “Once again, I am so sorry about all this, brother-in-law! Sister and I were supposed to take you around together, but it seems you are stuck with just me today.”“Oh! And my personal bodyguard Trey,” Noah
It was while they were taking a Magcart that Levi started to suspect that something wasn’t quite right with bodyguard Trey. As soon as Aris sat down, the man jumped to take the seat next to him as if afraid Levi would act faster than him.A futile effort. Levi wasn’t planning on sitting next to Aris anyway. ┐( ̄ヘ ̄)┌How would he be able to observe Aris properly if he was sitting right next to him?(/≧ω\)
And what else…? What else…. What… else…?? Noah’s eyes spun around in circles. He did an internet search on his brother-in-law while he was riding the Magcart from the hospital to the train station, but that only gave him clues on what to insult Levi with! If you wanted to compliment him… Damn it, even if you killed him, Noah couldn’t come up with anything else that would be considered a compliment!! QAQBlackie watched his stupid host struggle so desperately to find a valid compliment, instead of just making some shit up, and felt sadistic amusement bubble up inside of him. If you wanted him to h
Soon enough, their ordered food arrived, and Noah started to happily munch on his fish. Pure bliss was radiating off of him as he ate. In his entire life on Cradle, he had never before eaten something so tasty. In fact, he had never even bought an expensive meal before. As an orphan, he had no funds to buy himself a high-quality meal. He did get a scholarship due to his excellent school grades, but naturally, the thought of eating this hard-earned reward away had never occurred to him.Thus, this meal was Noah’s first hedonistic indulgence in his entire life. And he was positively glowing.
“Oh, come on.” Case whined, “Aren't you on a break? Don't you know what being on leave means? Every time you are on break, you can't sit still at all and insist on running off to do some free labor you call charity.” He gave Noah’s silky hair one last good ruffle before letting go.Verbally though, he bit in and refused to let go, “Hm? What do you have on tomorrow? Visiting the nursing home to make a bunch of old people feel good about their soon to-be-over lives? Or are there a bunch of major funerals going on, and you intend to go help the grieving with getting over their loss? Oh! Or are you actually tak
And with that, their eventful lunch came to its end.As the trio made their way towards the Magcart stop again, Noah was trying to decide where to take his brother-in-law next.“Brother-in-law, is there a place you want to visit?”Levi shook his head, then added clarification, &ldquo
The outdoor paintball field was set in an artificially designed meadow full of greenery for coverage. There was a clear road from start to finish of the track along which there were many bullseye targets set up in various heights and angles.The game round lasted for 30 minutes, and the winner of the game would be the team with the highest number of scored points. Points were scored by hitting the target, with more points being given the closer the shot was to the center.