Chapter 36: Cultural Festival pt.6

The first thing Evan noticed upon his arrival to the cafeteria was the amount of unoccupied tables and his friends sitting right in the middle. The worst place to sit.

When someone walks into a large room, most eyes flock straight to the middle and as someone who isn't fond of attention, it's a bit unnerving for Evan to sit in an area so visible. In his last life, he'd been undeniably average with a stellar background that was often glossed over. However, his new life threw that out of the park as soon as he awoke.

Sighing, Evan stalks over towards his friends, who are deep into a one-sided conversation. Cole, who notices Evan first, excitedly waves him over, making large motions with his hands. "Evvy~!! My love, you've come for your prince. You make me swoon.~" His friend dramatically falls backwards, his right hand laying on his heart.

A fond huff leaves Evan's lips, who has long gotten used to his friend's antics. Giving a small nod towards Osser, who for some reason seems a little peeved by his presence, Evan sits right in the middle of them, where an open seat lay innocently. The irritation exuding off of Osser was hard to miss, but Evan decided to pointedly ignore it.

The only thing he could've possible done was crash his and Cole's hangout together, but there wasn't any reason to get upset over that. "Cole, quick question." Evan suddenly blurted out, wanting to diffuse the growing tension faster than ever before.

Cole, who had been 'oblivious' to the growing tension, shot up like an excited puppy dog. It was funny because he was supposed to be the part-animal here and yet, Cole took the cake better than he ever did.

"Would you mind being my guide to the Floras section? You've never really spoke about your home before." Evan innocently questions, yet his curiosity has yet to be satiated. When Evan first learned of Cole's heritage, he didn't even question him. Astoria is unfortunately a fairly prejudiced place compared to the other continents. Therefore, Evan kept quite, just as Cole did for him. At first, he didn't realize Cole knew about the fact that he was no mere human, but as time went on, Cole spoke of his ability to simply know what others were. He never really questioned that statement, allowing Cole to handle the reins of when be wanted to really explain what he meant.

His question made Cole blink slowly, before his friend's mouth opened up into an O. So many emotions flew through his friend's bright yellow eyes, far too fast for Evan to catch onto them and subsequently decipher them.

"Of course Evvy.~ I'd do anything for my prince." The odd emotions that flittered through Cole's face had long disappeared and instead, his face wore that of a flirtatious nature. Cole stood up from the table and got onto one knee, his right hand laying on his heart as if he were promising his loyalty. His friend had also spoke in a low murmur but Evan couldn't really understand the words.

The significance of this moment would become important later on, but for now, both Osser and Evan remained in blissful ignorance.

The three ate in tandem, with Cole constantly adding to the very one-sided conversation between the them. Osser would simply grunt or nod in response whenever he was asked questions by Cole, yet outright ignore Evan. Sometimes, the white-haired male wondered if Osser had two personalities as some days, they'd be pretty close, and others, it was like they had met for the first time.

Eventually, they left the cafeteria in an awkward state. It felt as though there was a major elephant in the room, yet Evan just couldn't pinpoint it. Had he done something wrong? Did he use a word that offended someone? Swarmed with thoughts of what he could've done wrong, Evan almost bumped into Cole's back, who had suddenly stopped. He didn't realize that he'd gone through something either.

"Here we are my lovely princes.~ The most beautiful continent in this world." Cole refused to accept that any other continent could possibly top his own. Oceanus may also have beautiful plants, but Floras takes the cake. Many of the nature elves have become famous worldwide for their stunning floral pieces that they created from scratch. If he were honest, Floras was a utopia for nature lovers, but could be a safe illusion to those who lived there.

Evan was amazed by what he saw within the Floras area. Large floral pieces decorated the walls, with flowers he couldn't recognize but were beautiful all the same. Vines stretched from the ceiling to the floor, creating a wall between the rest of the building and Floras. Suddenly, Evan could recall passing through something but he'd been consumed by his own thoughts. At least now, he had an answer.

While Evan was gasping at the beautiful site before him, Cole discreetly left the area, with his guard dog following close behind him. Being in an area that reminded him of home was too much at the moment for Cole.

By the time the beauty had soaked in, Evan realized he was alone. Gone were his friends, who he assumed would stick by. Especially Cole, as this was his area of expertise.

Within a pocket in his pants, the little crystal glowed once again, this time going noticed by Evan, who quickly grabbed it. However, by the time it was in his hands, the glow had long faded. 'A trick of the light maybe?' Evan thought, placing the crystal back in his pocket.

Though he was now alone, Evan didn't really care. He shuffled through the booths, purchasing tiny trinkets for cheap and spending most of his money on a Floras history book. He even found a flower that was said to never fade away, though it was labeled more so as a children's toy.

The more he looked at the flower, the more suspicious he got as he felt like he'd seen it somewhere before, but where was the question.