Chapter 7

Ethan left the pool and went to the bar in his swimming trunks. Mia Blake was heavily drinking with two of their close neighbors at the other side. Ethan ordered a mixed spirit drink with barbecue fries and sat facing west toward the park. He had no intention of getting drunk unlike his mother. The sun was almost gone now. It cast a red after-glow on the cloudy sky. He thought of what he'd cook for dinner. Maybe carbonara would be nice.

A loud splash shook him from his thoughts. Lisa had jumped into the pool. He continued eating his fries and glanced towards Lisa. She was swimming furiously now, but he noticed something far behind, someone.

The silver-haired girl from his dream.

He choked from the fries in his throat. Mia Blake reacted and ran towards him in a tackle. He was able to flush the fries by drinking the rest of his drink. Mia got up and hugged him while screaming "Don't die!" The neighbors weren't as drunk and they quickly got her off Ethan. Lisa ran towards the bar and the silver-haired girl was by the pool now, watching.

"What happened?" asked Lisa.

"I choked on some fries and o-ka-san overreacted," he glanced at the silver-haired girl and Lisa followed his glance.

"Oh, that's Moon. She just moved in. She's very pretty, don't you think so?"

He wasn't thinking that. He was thinking that he should scoot and probably go cook dinner now. "I'm going up now. You take care of o-ka-san."

He went ahead and put on clothes he folded at a bench and walked the other way around the pool avoiding Moon. He went to the nearest elevator and waited for it to go down. He looked at Moon again and saw that she had just removed her shorts and is currently removing her shirt. She was wearing a matching black swimsuit and her figure was amazing. She plunged into the pool. Flawless movement.

"Wow, that's impressive. Wait a minute! I shouldn't be thinking of this now," he thought.

The elevator opened and a blonde man was there wearing a shirt and pants. He seemed to have reacted when he saw Ethan but quickly hid his surprise. Ethan kept staring at the American as he walked past him and headed to the pool.

An otherwise empty elevator greeted Ethan Yuusha Blake. He went in and pressed the button 30th. He walked to their apartment and put his hand against the door. It scanned his hand and the peephole did a facial recognition system. The door opened and he went in. Lily was on the balcony. Then Ethan thought, could she have seen the whole thing?

"If you're thinking that I saw the whole thing happened, you're right." said Lily.

"So, what do you think? Is she a friend or a foe?"

"I'm not sure. She's not here as an enemy though."

He went upstairs and took a quick shower then changed clothes. He decided to wear the same t-shirt he wore to school and shorts that he had been wearing since yesterday including fresh underwear. He went down and headed to the kitchen. Lily was sitting on the kitchen table waiting for him to start cooking.

He checked the shelves and refrigerator to see if there's enough ingredients left to make carbonara. There weren't any cream and bacon left so he decided to make spaghetti instead. Lily went into the top shelf and took the pasta, spaghetti sauce, and tomato sauce out. Ethan filled the pot with water and let it boil. He then started to cut the garlic and onion, then the mushrooms. Lily then took out the cheese and ground beef from the refrigerator. Ethan then opened the herb drawer and took out some basil and oregano.

The pot was boiling now. He put the pasta in the pot when the door opened. Lisa and Mia entered. Mia looked sober now. She must have had that wonder drug that cures drunkenness. Lisa went up the stairs to her room while Mia Blake then sat at the kitchen table and slumped.

"You remember tackling me, Mom?"

"Vaguely. I told you to call me Mia. Calling me Mom or o-ka-san makes me feel old."

*sigh* "Okay, Mia."

"You know that girl?" asked Mia.

"What girl?" he replied while sautéing the garlic and onions.

"The girl Moon. Lisa introduced me to her."

"I don't know her." he added the cooked ground beef now.

"Lisa said you reacted like you saw an exhibitionist"

"So?" he always talked coldly whenever he wanted the topic off.

"Well if you want to know her better, I've already invited her and her brother over to dinner."

He cringed and was on the verge of exploding, "…why would you do that?" He was screaming internally now and nearly spilled the broth when he was about to add it.

"Why not? They just moved so it's just good hospitality. Lisa was the one who came up with the idea."

"Then I suppose I should cook faster."

"That was a quick surrender," she said.

"Like you said, it is good hospitality and I can't argue if it's both of you against me." He was actually thinking to use the chance to know of her relevance. He added the spaghetti sauce and then the herbs last to the mixture. Lisa got down and turned on their television set. She was wearing different clothes now and had her terminal with her.

"They'll probably be here in about thirty minutes. Do you need any help with that?"

"No, you should just fix your appearance. You look like an average drunkard."

"Then I'll be upstairs. Call me when they're here." She got up, stretched, and walked up the stairs. Lisa continued watching an episode of Demon Tale, which coincidentally is an old anime about mages.

He drained the pasta and mixed it with the sauce. He put it in a large bowl and garnished it with chopped celery and cheese. He then took some cold garlic bread from the fridge and put it in the microwave oven. Lily was placing small plates on the table now. He took 5 forks and placed them on the table. The garlic bread was done now. He put the bowl of spaghetti on the table and Lily was having trouble getting the garlic bread out of the microwave. Ethan approached her and put on some mitts.

"I already got this." Lily doesn't like it when someone interferes with her."

"You'll burn yourself before you take it out. Just make some iced tea, I'll handle this."

Lily reluctantly agreed and went away. He took the garlic bread out and placed them neatly on a plate. He placed it on the table and thought to himself, it's been a long time since I had to arrange the table like this. Lily was finished with the iced tea too. Ethan went up the stairs to change into more proper clothes when he noticed a folder. It might be his mother's, he thought. He picked it up and a paper sticking out had the logo of XERN. This wasn't unusual since their company had ties to XERN. But he was still curious, so he went to his room and to peek. He put the folder on his bed and changed clothes. The t-shirt he wore had a picture of the Kremlin on it, one of the souvenirs his mother brought. He took pictures of the files with his terminal camera since he had to give it to her mother or she'll be mad at him, though he silently apologized for being too curious. He didn't bother to read them yet, saving them for later.

He picked up the folder and walked out of the room. He went to his mother's room and knocked. A startled "What is it?" emerged from the room.

"You dropped a folder at the stairs."

"Just leave it there."

"You should go down now too, they'll be here soon."

"Okay."

He went down the stairs and rested on the sofa. The episode was finished now so he asked Lisa. "Do you mind if you turn off the TV now? I want to play some music."

"I don't mind." She turned it off properly and took her laptop and opened it. Ethan used his pocket terminal to connect to the living room's wireless speaker system and played his favorite playlist in shuffle mode. The first song to be played was Everlast. He liked it, both the anime and the songs in it. Lisa was tapping keys in her laptop. She's just probably updating her status or something, probably typing "I'm currently listening to my brother's tunes." Mia Blake went down the stairs. Ethan wondered about Moon. Who is she? And as if on cue, someone rang the doorbell. Lisa got up and quickly opened the door. It was Moon and the blonde guy.

"You're here!" Lisa said.

"Sorry if we took so long. We waited for the pizza to come since we already ordered." the blonde guy said while holding two pizza boxes.

"Come in. Lisa, don't keep them waiting there." Mia said.

"Sorry."

They got in, they all went to the table and sat down. Moon was wearing an unbuttoned yellow polo over a white plain dress, while the blonde guy was wearing a long-sleeve v-neck and blue pants. They started to eat when the blonde guy noticed Ethan observing him so he started to talk.

"That's right, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. My name is John Arcin Rivers." He paused and motioned to Moon "And this is Eliza Crescent."

"Wait, different?" asked Lisa.

"Well," John paused for a while, "Our father is the same, but our mothers are different." he chuckled hinting at a lie.

"Then where's your dad?" Lisa asked to Moon.

John nor Moon didn't say anything. This was enough to know what was meant. The atmosphere was getting bad so early so Ethan changed the topic.

"What brings you to the Philippines then?" Ethan asked.

"Due to circumstances, I've decided to work here and Moon will continue her education here." John said.

"Let me guess, she's transferring to NWI, isn't she?" Ethan bluntly asked this to see how they would react.

"That was a good guess. Yes, she is transferring to NWI. She's a 2nd year in NGME-ACI."

"No way, big bro's a 2nd year at that same course too." said Lisa. "So that means the two of you will be classmates." It was too unnatural, thought Ethan.

"Then where would you be working, Mr. Rivers?" asked Mia.

"Please, call me John or Arc. I'll be the new combat instructor at NWI." John said.

What's this? A pincer attack? Ethan thought. Something like this only happens in anime or games. This isn't a damned anime, what's with these plot twists? They continued dinner and mostly talked about school and how life will be there.

"Oh, that's right. Ethan, do you know girls by the names of Theresa and Mika?" asked Moon.

"If I remember correctly I met a Mika earlier this afternoon. She was being bullied then. I don't know a Theresa but Resa was what the bully's name was."

"Well, we met the two of them in the bus. They said great stuff about you and about your current status at the university." John said.

"You already know about me being the current King Mage?"

"Moon's skilled in magic and hand-to-hand combat too. The two of you could get along well if you want."

"What specialty and martial art?" Ethan asked.

"Evocation and Systema." Moon said.

"Reformation and Taijutsu." Ethan said.

"Well, well, well, you two have something in common already," Mia remarked. "Both of you can kick ass."

"Can I also ask a favor?" John asked.

"Sure. What is it?" Ethan said.

"We need someone to guide us across town tomorrow. We need to buy a few stuff for our apartment, you see." John said.

Ethan gave this a long and crunchy thought before saying "Yeah, I could show you guys around tomorrow."

"Okay, then you guys can use the SUV." Mia said. After that they finished eating and Lisa and Lily put the leftovers in the refrigerator. Ethan and Mia walked John and Moon to the door and said their farewells. The two visitors left and Ethan went to the kitchen sink to wash the dishes. He finished fixing up and decided to go sleep since he was tired. Finally, some rest, he thought as he drifted into sleep.

"It was strangely easy to get close to them, don't you think?" asked John.

"Well father said if something happened smoothly and naturally, it means that destiny is playing a part." Moon said.

"In truth, I actually like them. Not like the ones we went after before."

"Yeah, me too."

They went into the elevator and went down to their apartment to sleep for the day.