Chapter 13: Finally, a place to call home? (Part 2)

Alan realized how hungry he was when the smell of melted butter and coffee reached him. In the cafeteria, about twenty people were chatting while enjoying scrambled eggs, bacon, orange juice, and tea.

This reminds me of the lively recreational rooms from the Alvearium Enterprise HQ. The teens who would later become the Santa María’s passengers spent some time there, getting to know each other before leaving Earth. So nostalgic. I met Astrid there, and it was the best week I—

His smile faded as half the room stared at him. The rest also noticed him once Tamara grabbed his hand to lead him to the food bar. “Come, Alan,” she said, oblivious to the fact that the whole place had gone silent.

Before looking away, Alan did not recognize any of their faces from the previous night. Which means that word of my return has already spread to the rest of the guild. He looked down at Tamara’s small hand, grabbing him. And who knows if people here support that Marco guy too.

The expression Marco had given him in the Trophy Room made him sick. How can you smile like that after what you did to me?

With the help of Tamara, Alan filled a tray with pancakes, coffee, and eggs, and returned to the tables, where people were now whispering to each other while sending him furtive looks.

“Hey, Level Five!” a familiar girl waved her hand at him. “Come and sit with us!”

Ashley’s killer…

Beside her, a long-haired redhead hissed at her: “What the hell are you doing?”

And the devil from my dream…

Alan exhaled deeply and walked towards them, ignoring Tamara’s suggestion that they should sit somewhere else.

“Hi, ‘Kidnapper Girl’,” he said, approaching them.

“Don’t call me that! You wanted to come here voluntarily, remember? I just helped. And use my name, ‘Five’. I’ve already introduced myself yesterday.” She waited, but seeing Alan’s blank face made her groan. “I’m Marissa Laflamme! MA-RI-SSA!”

“Alright, Marissa. My name is not ‘Five’. I’m Alan,” he said as he took a seat, to the dismay of Tamara, who reluctantly joined them.

“Mooorning, Tammie.” Marissa smirked.

“Morning, Marissa… Amelia.”

Amelia did not answer, pretending to be busy on her User Interface.

“Good! The more the merrier!” Marissa clapped. “Five, I suppose you already know my sister.”

“Who?” Alan frowned, looking in Amelia’s direction. “Wait! Are you guys sisters?”

“That’s right,” Marissa replied, while stuffing her mouth with food. “The Deadly Flowers of Carcella.”

Alan kept staring at Amelia, who was changing the color of her lipstick by tapping her User Interface. Her lips changed from pink to blue to black.

Marissa swallowed her food before giggling. “Do you like what you see?”

Hearing that made Alan blink repeatedly and shake his head. “I-I wasn’t–”

“Tam is showing you the facilities, isn’t she? Do you like what you’ve seen so far?”

“R-Right! Very impressive place! I can’t imagine how much you’ve all inves–”

After deciding to wear a dark crimson shade of lipstick, Amelia snapped her fingers, making her breakfast catch fire and burn into a crisp. “I’ve lost my appetite.” She then stood up and passed by Alan without glancing at him.

Seeing that fruit salad combust reminded him of how painful dying by her pyromancy was.

What was I thinking? Just because I had a wet dream about her doesn’t change the fact that she opposes me being here…

He closed his fist under the table. What am I even doing here?

“Tamara. Punch me,” he blurted out.

“W-what?! Why wou—I mean, NO!”

“Can I do it?” Marissa raised her hand like a child.

“No, Marissa, you’ll kill him!”

“It’ll be a small hit using my index finger, I promise.”

“Do it,” Alan said. “Before I change my mind.”

Both of them nodded at each other and leaned forward.

“You know…” Marissa whispered, while holding her finger in front of his forehead. “I kind of get the idea why you’re punishing yourself…”

After Alan gave her a puzzled look, he noticed Marissas’s finger glowing with a red aura.

Crap… I’m regretting alre—

“OUCH! Holy shit!”

The hit took away 20% of his health.

“That looks like fun,” a high-pitched male voice said, giggling, as he approached their table.

While still holding his forehead, Alan recognized the tall pale guy wearing a monocle and a business suit.

He’s one of Marco’s followers. This guy didn’t punch me, but enjoyed slapping me instead. He killed me twice while keeping a nasty grin on his face.

“Do you need something, Jason?” Tamara asked aloud, and Alan noticed her tone of voice changing from joyous to severe.

“I’m just here to have a quick word with our guild founder. It won’t take much of your precious breakfast time, I promise.” Jason then put his left hand against his chest and turned to Alan. “Mr. Warden, I’m Jason Foreman, Shooting Stars’ Treasury Secretary, and your humble servant. L-Listen, I’ll go straight to the point. I was the one that screwed up yesterday. Remember the whole fiasco about the money our First Guild Officer, Marco Souza, alleged you stole?” Jason then grimaced, showing something resembling diamonds encrusted in his teeth. “Y-Yeah… Sorry, Founder. That was on me.”

Alan’s first reaction was to glance at his other two acquaintances. Marissa seemed to be enjoying the show, calmly sipping coffee, and Tamara looked tense and her facial features looked rigid.

“What do you mean?” Alan asked cautiously, as Jason smiled apologetically.

“It’s pretty simple. It was my fault. Accidentally, of course! Yesterday, I didn’t know that we had a new First Officer in town! And in my stupidity,” Jason hit his forehead with his palm, “I just filtered the guild members’ list by rank and sent the gold to you without giving it a second thought! When I realized my mistake, I sent a claim to withdraw the gold from your account to resolve the issue.” He chuckled, putting both hands on his hips. “What a mess, huh?”

“Is there something else you need to add?” Tamara asked dryly, prompting Jason to correct his posture.

“Right.” He cleared his throat. “I owe you an apology, Founder. I promise you, no, I swear that as long as I work here, you’ll never see a mistake like that ever again.”

Alan took a peek at the other tables. Was everyone in that place watching? What am I supposed to do?! Smile and say: ‘Try to be more careful next time, silly you’?!

Fuck off, you, monocle weirdo!

Wait… Something doesn’t add up about his story.

“It’s okay, pal.” Alan forced himself to smile. “Try to be more careful next time. All right?”

Alan noticed a grimace briefly forming on Jason’s lips that quickly faded.

“But of course, Founder. It won’t happen again. Now, if you excuse me. Ah, by the way, try the chocolate muffins. They’re to die for.”

“That apology didn’t feel sincere at all,” Alan commented as he watched the guy walk away. “Marco Souza was angry at me for supposedly stealing his gold, right?”

“That’s what he said,” Marissa responded, sighing. “That’s how he convinced the righteous Oscar to find you and bring you here. Matt only went to ensure Oscar didn’t screw up, and I went because I wanted to be close to my little teddy bear.”

“But by the time you showed up, the money had already disappeared.”

Marissa snickered, shrugging. “We didn’t know that. But you’re right. It’s pretty suspicious, huh. Astrid thinks the same, that’s why she sent Jason flying—”

“Marissa…” Tamara called in a stern voice. “Our breakfast has been spoiled already. Could you please talk about something a little nicer?”

“Whatever. Is there something you’d like to know, Five?”

“Could you…” Alan began, feeling that his face started to blush. “…talk to me about Astrid?”

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