8 Chapter 8: Martial Duel
It was around five in the afternoon when Lake walked out of a hair salon.
Evelyn had dragged him here after school. She said his messy hair that covered most of his face was annoying her and wanted it fixed.
As Lake was taking another look at his reflection in the glass pane, both Evelyn and even Leah were slightly stunned as they stared at Lake's face.
"I-I'll admit, I didn't expect him to be so… hidden. I just thought he would look better if he had his hair cut, but I didn't see this coming..." Evelyn whispered to herself as she stared in a daze at Lake's face.
Even Leah was silent at this moment. Although she would never admit it out loud, she accepted the fact that Lake was more handsome compared to some of the wealthy young masters she knew.
Looking at his shiny blue eyes, that were slightly obscured by his now thin black hair, one could feel a calm yet powerful gaze radiating from them. The two girls genuinely questioned whether they were looking at the same person from a couple minutes ago.
Feeling satisfied with his hair cut, Lake turned around as he flashed a brilliant smile at the two girls, "Well, what do you think?"
Both Evelyn and Leah were sent into a daze as they stared at Lake's bright smile. Evelyn's heart was beating out of her chest while Leah was questioning whether or not her heart just skipped a beat.
"I-It looks amazing. Why didn't you cut your hair before? I feel like I just uncovered an amazing treasure." Evelyn asked she desperately tried to calm her racing heart.
Hearing her compliment Lake laughed a bit as he replied, "I couldn't afford to spend the extra money before, so I would often just cut it with a scissors myself. It didn't come out good however so I eventually just stopped and let it grow out."
"Huh, you can't even afford a haircut? How poor are you?" At this point Leah finally found something she could nitpick on Lake about as she smiled.
"Leah! Don't be rude!" Evelyn yelled.
Lake laughed awkwardly as he scratched his cheek, "Its fine, I've long come to terms with my economical standings."
Expecting Lake to attack back with his words, Leah felt kind of bad when he replied so modestly. Still feeling Evelyn's stare, she quickly apologized, "S-sorry."
"Don't mention it," Lake replied as he nodded his head at her.
Turning his gaze towards Evelyn, Lake asked, "Anyway, I wonder where you plan to take me after making me get a haircut?"
"Well, I was originally planning to go straight to the event after your haircut, but after seeing how good you looked after it, I now want to see just how much of your handsome potential I can unlock." Evelyn said as she smiled innocently at Lake.
At this moment both Leah and Lake finally came to an understanding as both their eyelids twitched as they stared at the innocent smile that was filled with ulterior motives.
…
Soon another hour passed as Lake walked out of a luxury brand clothing store. He wore a grey hoodie with a black pattern spread across it. His legs were covered by a long black jeans as he walked out on a pair of white sneakers.
Lake could feel the gazes of the people passing by taking numerous glances at him as they whispered among themselves. At one point a group of girls were about to approach him but stopped as they stared at the two figures that appeared behind him, one on each side.
Normally, it wouldn't have taken an hour for Lake to get this clothes but he had to spend half an hour as the two girls made him try out multiple different outfits before choosing the one he was currently wearing. He had to spend the other half an hour waiting for Evelyn and Leah to finish picking out the clothes that they would wear.
Evelyn was dressed in a simple white shirt and pink skirt. The clothes helped to bring out her natural cuteness giving one a pleasant vibe. Leah wore a black long sleeves sweater with a short black skirt covering her slender legs that were covered by a pair of black stockings. Contrasting that against her pale skin gave her a mysterious yet cute look.
"It seems that clothes really do make the man." Leah said.
"About that, I have to thank you again for purchasing this for me." Lake said as he looked at Leah with a sincere smile.
During the shopping, Leah had offered to sponsor the clothes saying that it was her form of thanking Lake for saving Evelyn.
Nodding her head at lake, Leah turned her gaze towards Evelyn as she spoke, "So are we finally going to go now?"
"Mhm." Evelyn nodded her head, "The Duel should be starting in another hour. Looking at the time, we should be able to make it with some time to spare."
Hearing Evelyn's words, Lake looked over confused.
"What do you mean by Duel?" Lake asked.
"Today, their will be an official martial arts duel between two Martial Warriors in the Sunset Martial Stadium." Leah explained simply.
"Yep, I was planning on taking you to another place first but after hearing that you're a student that signed up for the Martial Arts Course, I thought this would be more fitting towards what you would be interested in." Evelyn spoke as she smiled.
Seeing Evelyn's genuine kind intentions, Lake was slightly stunned for a bit. After a short pause he released a small sigh.
"In that case, I can't say I'm not interested in the duel then." Lake said as he smiled gently, giving a small nod in agreement.
Hearing Lake's agreement, Evelyn cheered excitedly.
"Great! Then let's go!"
Seeing how excited Evelyn was acting, Leah wondered where her friend who was usually calm and collected, went.
…
After a while, Lake arrived outside the Sunset Martial Stadium.
Lake looked around and was impressed by the massive size of the stadium. The building was extremely wide, stretching as far as 3 Kilometers. With a seating capacity of around 300,000, and a location directly in the center of the city, the Stadium stands as one of the biggest attraction of Sunset City.
Lake had been here once before when he was a kid but was still in awe at the size of the stadium.
"The match should be starting in 10 minutes." Evelyn said to Lake.
"Mhm, Then lets head inside and get our seats before the match starts." Lake replied.
Both Evelyn and Leah agreed as they walked into the building.
At this point, Lake heard a commotion coming from behind him.
Curious, he turned his gaze to see what the commotion is about.
Immediately Lake eyes widen as he saw something that gave him a shock.
In front of him, a group of people were surrounding the figure of a man exiting a vehicle. The man had handsome facial features and a strong and muscular build.
The people around him were shouting crazily at the man. Some of the people in the crowd including civilians and reporters who were flooding the man with countless questions.
"Mr. Don, I heard today you will be fighting an official duel against the rising star, Romero. How do you feel about the match?"
"Mr. Don, is it true that, you will be participating in the Water Mirror Rift Raid after your match with Romero?"
"Mr. Don, are the rumors true that you and Romero were caught arguing over a woman and decided to find the victor through a martial duel?"
Hearing all the questions, Mr. Don face was starting to turn darker, especially after hearing that last question. Soon he started answering the questions of the reporters to calm them down as he made his way to the stadium's participants only entrance.
Staring at the man who was walking away, Lake was observing the strange Fate thread that floated above Mr. Don's head. Normally, a fate thread would be in the shape of a thread with its color varying based on the Fate of that person. However, looking at the thread that had woven together through numerous different threads to form a small, but thick longsword, Lake was questioning whether his eyes were deceiving him.
After checking that his eyes were still fine, Lake quickly observed the fate of the man that was currently walking away.
As he observed, he became more and more shocked the longer he looked through Mr. Don's fate. Soon only one thought remained in Lake's head as he watched the man enter the stadium through the participants only entrance.
"So that's what a true Martial Artist is like..."
