Chapter 366: 366 - A Fateful Encounter
The four people waited for the waiter to come, after Noah requested him. Although the group did not look to be, they were mostly heavy drinkers.
"So, so, are we not taking the fancy car home?" Al asked, making the girls curious.
"Fancy car? what happened to yours?" But aside from curious, Sha was worried.
"You mean the one Marcel Khan borrowed me?" Noah asked, trying to remember whether she knew of what happened this morning.
"Oh... Right... I forgot what happened earlier." She rested herself against the chair, looking up. "I may have drinken too much," she said, realizing the ceiling seemed to be moving.
"You couldn"t help it. After all, this is the first time in years you sisters are together. Isn"t it something to celebrate?" Noah blew fresh air onto the embers, lighting up the fire.
"Yeah, we need to celebrate! So, Noah, are you sticking around to the sleepover?" Khish asked, making the pink haired healer"s eyes gleam.
"Eh? Me? I don"t think it"s... the best option." Noah gulped, thinking about having to deal with them for that much longer, especially considering how tired he already was, both physically and mentaly. "I want you guys to take this change to get more acquainted with Maggie, and having me there would change the vibe. Why don"t you take Lilith instead?" he asked, shoving the responsibilty to a third party.
"Right! I would love to get to know more about you from her!" Sha said, her smile wide. Noah realized the emotions the other girls were having were very different though.
"I don"t feel Lilith likes me so..." Allie fiddled with her fingers while reddening, letting Noah clearly understand her feeling from her curled up figure.
"Who is Lilith?" Khish, on the other hand, had no idea on who Lilith was. "I keep hearing you talk about this Lilith but n.o.body says anything on what she looks like."
"She"s a snake!" Allie exclaimed, a strange interest in her smirk.
"Wha—I don"t care about her personality!" As Khish voiced her misunderstanding, Noah noticed the grin in Sha and Al"s eyes. They were clearly messing with the poor soul.
"She"s realy slippery and scaly," Sha said, smirking.
"Yeah, and she looks venomous and fangy," Al complemented, making Khish start to well up.
"Stop! I wanna know what she looks like!" the poor Khish protested, turning around to face Noah. "Can you please tell me?!"
"Well... She"s just like they said... And glossy black," he put his hand on his chin, describing the snake. "Her eyes are beautiful, though. I think you"ll find her adorable, so long as you like serpents."
"... Even you?! Why are you describing her as if she was a monster?! Do you want me to believe she looks like a snake?!" Khish snapped, angrilly staring at the three. "You guys know what?! I"mma get hammered," she said, drinking the warm beer remaining in her gla.s.s. "Errhg... Disgusting!" she said, putting the empty cup down, to laughters of the others.
Sha and Noah began talking about the Arena, telling Allie everything that happened and how they beat everyone.
"I"m really thankful to you guys... It would"ve taken me another while to get all the essence Maggie needed to become healthy. But since you guys gave me your share, I did it immediately," he turned to Sha, for the first time putting his hand on her leg, even if just thanking her.
Sha stopped for a second, surprised Noah was approaching her, which was not something he would normaly do, and bit her lip, looking straight into his eyes.
"I know you two are really great together, but could you guys stop flirting?" Al said, Noah laughing off her protest.
"Oh, come on Al. You know we"re not flirting. Right, Sha?" Noah turned, only to see the pink-haired healer beet-red. "Sha?" he asked again, maing the girl snap out of it, and cover her face with both hands.
"Y—ye! No flirting at all!" she stuttered, nervous.
"See, there"s nothing going on here," he said while turning back to Al, watching Khish drink silently with the corner of his eyes.
"... Ok." Al faked believing him, or rather, did not. Despite her words, her face told a completely different story. "Either way, I wish I could have seen you guys" battle... Such a shame," Al complained, frustrated she had no idea about her sister"s life.
"About that, I think Maggie recorded all of the fights I was in," he said, making Al"s eyes glimmer.
"Really?! Can we watch it tonight?!" she asked. All things aside, Blessed were impressive, and to the nomal person, watching them fight was something straight out of a fantasy book. And that"s how things like Valorwatch became a lot of people"s main source of entertainment.
"Yeah. I mean, Maggie already loves doing it even if alone, I don"t think she would complain about having company," he said absentmindedly, nibbling on a piece of onion rings.
"Noah, did you call?" But as he was going over it, the waiter arrived, walking in.
"Yeah, we think we"re going soon, so I want to close my tab," Noah called him out, asking for the bill.
"Already?! The girl over there is not done drinking yet," he joked, pulling out a vintage looking pager from his pocket and typing in a small message.
"d.a.m.n, you still use that old thing?" Khish asked, looking at the hundred year old piece of tech.
"Yeah... It"s a memento. And since it somehow still works with our system, I put it to good use," he said, before turning back to Noah, "I asked them to get the bill, but they"ll bring it with some desserts."
"Desserts? You trying to lick my boots?" Noah joked, a broad smile on his emotionless face.
"Compensation. n.o.body likes not being able leave and stuff. Also, we hope the girls will come here more times," he smiled at the sisters, prompting them to answer.
"If he brings me again,"
"Sure, the stay was great,"
"If I can afford it I sure will,"
The three"s reactions were leagues apart, to the point the waiter was taken aback, especially at the very serious response from the more mature looking one of them. He also chose to ignore the moocher respose from the youngest.
"You sure got yourself a good crew, Noah," he turned to Noah, winking.
"Yep. They are great," he said and waited with him for another person to arrive, which didn"t take long.
"Erm, sir, here is the bill..." A small shy girl entered the room, hiding behind the waiter.
"Such a cute girl, is she your sister?" the pink haired healer looked over with a warm expression, seeing herself in the small girl"s place.
"Actually..." he started talking, but seeing Sha"s carefree demeanor, the small girl walked from behind him and addressed her herself.
"Sorry... I"m actually his fiacée," the girl said, small smile on her lips.
"I"m trying to get her to stop being so afraid of people... but today"s thing didn"t help us either." While the waiter explained, Sha was left dumbfounded.
"Excuse me but... How old are you?" the healer asked, scared at how yong the girl was to be someone"s lover.
"Me? I"m almost 30," the girl said, looking down embara.s.sed.
"You"re older than all of us?!" Al b.u.t.ted in her eyes wide, "Guess I do look like an old lady, then." Her face turned strangely gloomy, though there was still a hint of happiness that didn"t fit her general expression, which made Noah doubt she had any problem with her looks.
"Guess she hates beeing seen as a youngster," he noticed, seeing the small hint of pride in her self depreciative comment.
"I"d rather look older, though... I"ve put him in a lof of trouble for looking this young," she said, putting her hand on the waiter"s shoulder. "Ummm... I think I should go, this is still a work regardless of being also a way to become less afraid of people... Also, pink girl, thank you... I had never chatted like this before," she thanked the healed, while handing the costly bill to Noah.
"Thanks, I"m Sha, a Healer Blessed," the pink haired girl introduced herself waiting for the small to speak.
"Pleasure to meat you, Sha. Guess you healed my fears. I"m Naeyon Sishi, I"m also a blessed, but don"t like fighting," the small girl said, her name ringing a bell in Noah"s mind which made him wary.
"Neyon, isn"t it... Are you from—" Noah started addressing her, but the girl quickly hid behind the waiter once again. "Sorry, didn"t mean to scare you."
"Is ok... just got a little scared. It"s really okay," she said, handing the small metal plates with a pleasant smell to the waiter, who gave it to everyone, while Noah paid the bill.
Noah"s mind ran in circles over the Sishi family name. He had already heard it somewhere, and knew this was something important. "Whatever," he muttered, choosing to ignore the strange feeling that he was forgetting something extremely important, and saw the waiter and waitress out before eating the strawberry cheesecake.
"The cheesecake is a great to wash out the taste of beer!" Khish told n.o.body in particular, since she was ignoring them still, but besides her Al had something to say.
Noah saw with interest, as she saw the girl"s mouth open and close, as she though whether she should say something while lookinng at the door.
"Noah, that girl... I know her," she said, her eyes wide.
"Really? That"s—"
"No, Noah... She is—We better talk about this later. Let"s just get our of here first," she said, making Noah very wary.