Chapter 22 - Big Match (1)

"He's my childhood friend."

James raised his eyebrows.

"Your childhood friend?"

Lucy took a deep breath before explaining.

"Hah, I'm not sure how many years ago that was. Back then..."

Then she started to tell him.

Victor and Lucy were extremely close, childhood friends. So much so that Victor would often come to the Moonlight Restaurant.

One day, by coincidence, Lucy's dad realized that Victor had a talent for cooking. Normally he would have wanted to teach his son, but his son, Sam, whose name James had just learned, was not so keen.

With that, Lucy's dad decided to teach Victor too. So together they started to be taught by Lucy's father.

Of course, as time passed, Lucy's dad got sicker and sicker. And when their mother died, his illness only got worse. And with that, it was imperative that someone take over the restaurant.

No doubt Victor was extremely talented, but this was a family restaurant. So there was no way Lucy's father could give it to anyone other than his own daughter. Lucy owning the restaurant also meant that she would be the head chef.

Owning the restaurant was no big deal, but according to Lucy, Victor couldn't handle working under Lucy. After a while, he left to start his own restaurant and was frighteningly successful. So much so that he was able to build a restaurant on his own that was the equal of the Moonlight, which was very famous at the time.

It was undoubtedly the greatest success of its time. But he was still not satisfied. He still harbored a grudge against Lucy's dad and wanted the Moonlight to close down.

At least that's what Lucy thought. But Lucy could see Victor's sadness when Lucy's dad died. And yet, despite all this, his hatred for Moonlight had not gone away. This could be seen even now in the way he wanted James to work for him.

Lucy clearly characterized it as a childish grudge. She emphasized that he had childish behavior in general.

James was silent as he heard all this. Lucy's face was unexpectedly expressionless as she told him, but he could hear the sadness in her voice, the sadness that she felt at Victor's continued behavior.

But James didn't understand that. The grudge brought Fox's mistake straight to his mind. He remembered all the hard work he had gone through because of her. Yes, you could say he was resentful of her, but he didn't hold a grudge.

After all, after a certain point, holding a grudge didn't make sense. According to James, Victor was no different.

He asked Lucy the question Fox had asked him at that moment:

"And did you ever talk with him?"

Part of the way she said it had the feel of a theory. Fox had asked it for that very reason. Lucy sighed as she shook her head from side to side.

"I tried, but he always made some excuse and turned away. So I stopped trying."

James sighed, feeling his head start to ache.

"I understand, and the reason for the warning is that you don't have a complete picture of his current state. That he might threaten or even have me beaten up as an intimidation tactic. Am I right?"

Unexpectedly, Lucy shook her head in denial.

"Victor is vindictive, but he's not a bad person. He would never do something like beat someone up. But..."

James finished Lucy's sentence.

"But he can threaten."

Lucy nodded in agreement and James rubbed his forehead with his hand.

In that brief meeting, Victor had put on a face that could be interpreted as malicious. But James realized that with what he had heard, he didn't have much to worry about.

At least he wasn't going to make the obviously senseless move of having someone beat him up.

By this time, of course, their food was finished. At Lucy's insistence, he left the dishes to her. So he had to pretend to go to bed until Lucy had washed the dishes and left.

And that's when she heard Fox's voice.

[It's really strange. What interesting lives out there.]

James nodded in agreement.

"It feels a bit cliché, but reality is full of them."

He heard Fox's approving voice.

[Yes it is, and if he can give you what you want, it'll make your job a lot easier.]

James grinned at that.

"There's got to be connections. And since I'm going to make it so he can't get away with it, he has to."

[Good luck with that, I hope he won't give you any trouble.]

Fox didn't even think James would lose. He didn't want his trust to be broken.

James spoke in a voice that didn't sound very confident:

"I hope so."

Obviously, he saw a much higher probability that the person they were talking about would not believe them. But he did not express it. Instead he stopped sleeping any longer and left his room and went to the kitchen to get to work. It was going to be a long night for him.

…

When the time came for the duel, the arena was nothing short of festive. James, who had been holding his place for some time and who advertised the Moonlight restaurant as a rival to Eclipse, was up against Gray, also known as Gray Eclipse.

Even more shocking was the fact that Gray was a challenger. It was not often that someone at the top would challenge someone below them.

Of course, most people were aware of the reason for this.

"Moonlight was very popular for a while. Eclipse seems to want to nip it in the bud."

"That's ridiculous! He could have threatened or created smear campaigns instead. Why would he resort to that?"

"Well, it's simple, they want to show everyone how qualified the warrior they have with them is, and to advertise themselves. Only a sucker would miss such a good opportunity."

"I think you're overthinking it."

"He's not even Spectra Phantom's equal, but he'd better beat that Gray Eclipse!"

"Fucking fanboy!"

This kind of talk was going around and around in the audience and everyone was excited. The battle of a person in the hundreds was always interesting.

Meanwhile, James was walking down the aisle. He was holding Hammersaur in one hand. He was excited and nervous, but he was careful not to hurt the bakugan, holding it carefully and moving it between his fingers.

The brightness in his eyes was the brightest it had ever been, except when he was having a nervous breakdown. It was enough to make his eye color appear silvery.

As he walked like this, he saw Siren with her back against the wall, waiting for him. With her pink hair and mask hiding her face, she was hard to miss.

"Hi."

James nodded his head in acknowledgment.

At first Siren felt surprised at his obviously abnormal form. Then she asked anxiously:

"Are you okay? Your eyes are... strange."

James was surprised.

"What do you mean?"

Siren didn't know how to say it. Normally he already had strange eyes, but now they seemed to have changed color. They didn't look like lenses. They shone like headlights!"

One could say it was scary. After all, the light was intensifying and fluctuating. It was like a living flame.

She spoke in a voice that was difficult to articulate:

"Your eyes... they literally shine."

James was even more confused. He asked, not understanding.

"What do you mean?"

By this time the glow had faded, distracted as it was. Of course there were sparkles. But the earlier excess had diminished.

Siren rubbed the glass in the eye socket of her mask.

James continued to stare at her, scratching his head. How was his eyes glowing? He'd seen he had strange eyes. But it shouldn't have been that big of a deal.

Siren looked again and again, then she spoke:

"I think... I thought so. But you were strange just now."

She was going to say something. But in the end she shook her head from side to side and gave up.

"Whatever, never mind."

James didn't push it any further. Maybe she had witnessed a side effect from the Bakugan half.

"So, what happened? Are you worried about me or something?"

Siren giggled.

"You could say that. Haos and Darkus are pretty opposite elements. I thought maybe you were nervous, so... I was."

James nodded his head in agreement.

"I get it. I'm fine."

Then, after a brief pause, he added:

"I'm still going to challenge you, after all."

Siren was surprised at first, but then grinned. Siren had gotten used to James' usual upwardly-oriented demeanor and was curious to see how far he would go. As a brawler, she would have gladly accepted the challenge.

"Your eyes are too high, as usual. I'll wait."

James grinned back. He would have to fight Siren sooner or later. Aside from the fact that it was a struggle for him to remain a human - or rather, a vestal - he too had developed a passion for war as a brawler.

"Your wait will be short."

With that, James began to walk towards the field. Siren, secretly hoping that James would win, took a different path from James to watch with curiosity.