Chapter 12: Date with filth

Without anyone even noticing, Mike quickly ran around the area and stole a pair of Raycon earbuds from a tech store and turned them on. He slowed down near a park and sat down there.

*I need to learn some Japanese, before I go to see her. I don't want to give her any doubts about my words and make myself seem more favourable.*

The next hour went with Mike only sitting down and listening to Japanese songs and different Japanese YouTubers with his translator off and studied it to know some words of the language, just incase he will need to speak Japanese.

Even though he barely knows the meanings of the words he has learned, it is enough to pass. Only if he has to speak Japanese in front of a native and Starlight at the same time will he be exposed. In any other situation, he will be completely covered.

Mike stood up from the park bench and burned his spirit. He envelope the earbuds with the fire and tried to burn the Raycon earbuds in his hands, but they were surprisingly durable, so he directly crushed them into a millimeter in diameter size ball and tossed it into a trashcan.

With all the preparation over, he quickly rushed off to meet starlight.

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In a bowling alley sat a young blond woman. She had reserved the lane from 3-5 pm, but she was nervous and went there ten minutes ahead of time.

*I mean, he is a foreigner and probably has never done bowling, but he is a supe, so he shouldn't be mad at me for showing off a bit, right? Should I go easy on him? Oh God, I can't take this. Maybe a date straight away was a bad idea. I even invited him! No, Starlight, you can do this, just don't fuck it up!*

The blond girl sat around a large table, overthinking everything starting from the day A-train raced up to that moment and she couldn't help her growing nerves.

Suddenly, she heard a small swish sound, but starlight shrugged it off and drank her juice. *Must have been the wind.*

Then suddenly she remembered she is in a bowling ally. *I'm in a bowling ally. How the hell could there be wind here?* and looked to the side, inly yo see the man she had been waiting for this entire time and... she tilted her head in confusion.

Mike sat next to her and smiled at her "Sorry if I'm late. I got somewhat lost, but I don't think I took that long to get here."

Starlight stared at Mike for a few seconds, something wasn't right with. He looked... Starlight couldn't quite put her finger on it. "You look different."

Mike raised an eyebrow "What do you mean?" *The effects wore off. So she is not an unstable variant and hasn't had her brain rewired to be psychically susceptible. What exactly is her drawback? She exhibits none of them and even the testable ones have come out negative. This is quite an interesting ancient. Or maybe my entire theory is wrong and Ancients and these supers are different enough because this Vought. But how exactly does it grant power then? Are humans here of different biology?*

Starlight shrugged "I don't know. When I first saw you, it was... different. I don't know how to explain it really. When I first saw you, I felt like I met the man of my dr-"

Realising what she was about to say, Starlight slightly lowered her gaze and blushed. Mike chuckled a bit and said "I mean... Thank you for the compliment. I'm very flattered. When I saw you I thought something similar if I am being honest. Though, that is most definitely a weird thing to bring up on a first date."

Starlight shrugged and said "Let's just bowl. I'll explain the rules if you want."

Mike nodded his head. Even though he had memorized the entire ruleset of professional bowling and advanced techniques, he still chose to let her guide him.

He stood up and watched as Annie picked up a ball and got into a stance.

"So, the goal is to get as many pins to fall down as possible. If you get all of them down, then it's a strike. Strikes give extra points. If you don't get a strike, you take an extra shot and add the points you also get to your total on the second hit."

Mike nodded his head along with her. "*Fog of war chess is my favourite game, but this isn't half bad... Don't lie to yourself, it will grow dull after you fill the score board with only strikes.* But won't you get a strike every single time if you just shoot straight enough? I mean, we're both supers, that's bound to happen."

Annie smirked and said "Why don't you go ahead and do it then?" Mike already knew the results, but he played along.

And, as expected, one pin was left standing, while all others fell. Mike rubbed his cheek with an awkward smile "I stand corrected. How do you get a strike then?"

Annie stood up with a smile "I mean, I didn't want to show off, but." Her eyes slightly lit up, as the buildings lights slightly, insignificantly so, dimmed, something almost no one, even the ability user, noticed, but Mike did. *What is she? She falls under none of the standards I know off! Electricity maybe? No, not even lightning mages can pull this off, much less subconsciously. Bright mage? But how did they grant a class to an ancient? Exactly what is this compound V Vought is using? How does it grant such powers to the humans of this world? ...Or does it even grant them?*

Starlight threw an arced ball and it was a perfect strike. "And that's how you do it!" Mike nodded his head, with a slightly dumbfounded look on his face. "That was... Impressive. So the ball's center of mass is tilted and you can use that to curves your shot. You're really good at controling your strength, Annie."

With the pins now sorted again, Mike gave it a try and missed 2 pins this time, after trying Annie's technique. He smiled awkwardly again "Okay, I perhaps and quite possibly may not be a once in a million years bowling super talent and just might need a few nanoseconds of practice to do well."

Annie scoffed at Mike's terrible joke and went up to do her serve.

The two of them hung around and played ball while chatting and having fun. Annie wanted to hold back, but Mike quickly learned the proper throwing technique and made sure Annie had to get perfect strike records or lose. Not wanting to be shown up by Mike, her competitiveness was awakened and the game ended with a perfect strike record from Annie.

A.N.

Jesus Christ did my story blow up! Season 3 just ended as well and it was a BANGER! Almost as banging as what will happen in a few chapters.

Help me get even more followers by sending dem stones this way. Give me a review as well. I will do an extra chapter release when I get a rating on my story.

Any question, literally anything you want to ask, just comment them and I'll do a Q&A chapter later.