Travelling to East sea City

"A job?" Kai asked cautiously, thinking back to how the Pagoda had set him previously with the Draken Clan.

"It's different from last time" Conrad hurriedly began to explain. "This time its an actual mission, not just singing and dancing."

"What do you mean?" Kai tilted his head to the side in confusion.

Conrad just smiled, ignoring Kai's question. "Did you have any plans for the upcoming break?"

Kai was silent for a moment, unhappy that Conrad wasn't explaining enough. Regardless of his suspicions Kai answered. "My friends and I were planning on going to East Sea City."

"Truly is a small world!" Conrad chuckled as he ran his hand through his hair. "Looks like you'll still be able to hang out with your friends."

"It's in East Sea City?" Kai asked, surprised by the strange coincidence. "But what will I need to do?"

Conrad shifted in his seat, his expression turning serious as he began to explain. "You'll be going undercover as the entertainment at a party. The event is run by a group that is suspected of having ties to Dark Spirit Masters. Your job will be to help secure some evidence."

"Can I talk to Evelynn first?" Kai asked, unsure whether this was something he really wanted to do. "I don't think I can do this."

Conrad waved his hands in the air, dismissing Kai's idea. "Evelynn is busy getting ready for her own mission at the moment. And don't worry about anything, you'll be meeting with other Spirit Masters in East Sea City. You're mostly there for support and experience, this isn't a dangerous mission."

Kai looked down to the ground in silence, squirming slightly in his seat.

"You should know you don't have a choice, everything is already in place" Conrad spoke coldly, his eyes uncaring as he looked at the uncomfortable Kai.

Just as he finished the door to the examination room burst open, the same scientist that had performed the tests earlier entering the room. He widened his eyes in shock before greeting Conrad and informing Kai that he was free to leave.

With that Conrad got up from his seat and made his way to the door. Just as he was about to leave, he turned to look at Kai one last time, "I'll send you more details later, until then relax. You've earned it."

Conrad then left the room, leaving the scientist and Kai alone together.

"Make sure no to let him down, kid" The scientist said with a wry smile. "Looks like he likes you."

With a sigh Kai pushed himself back to his feet. "Something like that."

…

The sounds of laughter and chatter filled the Drunken Monkey. At the edge of the bar were Kai and Carter talking with Oscar. Kai wore his classic cherry blossom kimono as he sipped on some juice, enjoying his short break between performances.

Kai pulled out his phone, looking at a message Evelynn had sent him a couple hours ago. In it she explained how she had an important mission from the Pagoda and that she would be away for a couple weeks.

Kai sighed and rested his head against the bar in defeat. Ever since coming to Heaven Dou City he'd never truly been apart from Evelynn. This would be the first time they'd spend an extended period of time away from each other.

"Don't be so down, Kai" Oscar said, cleaning a glass and placing it under the counter. "It just means we get to spend more guy time together!"

"Guy time…" Kai mumbled, rolling his eyes. "Your idea of 'guy time' is you getting drunk and whining to me about how Evelynn doesn't love you."

To the side Carter seemed to choke on his drink slightly while Oscar froze in place as he stared blankly at Kai.

"This time it'll be different" Oscar said clearing his throat. "This time I'm bringing you on a vacation!"

Oscar raised his hands in the air grandly as he finished his sentence, looking to Kai expectantly. Contrary to his expectations, Kai remained unmoving his cold and unimpressed eyes still judging Oscar silently.

"Are we going to East Sea City?" Kai asked. Oscar opened his mouth wanting to say something but found his words getting stuck in his throat. He turned to look at Carter, but Carter turned away and avoided his gaze.

"Carter told me earlier" Kai explained, before thinking to himself silently. 'That and Conrad already told me everything.'

Oscar looked betrayed as Carter got up from his seat.

"I think someone's calling me, give me a moment" Carter quickly pulled his phone out and placed it against his ear, pretending to take a phone call.

"Look, Kai, I know you and your friends were planning on doing something together, but this will be great!" Oscar hurriedly tried to explain, thinking that Kai was disappointed that he wouldn't be able to have fund with his friends. "You only have to work a couple days, and I've got us a hotel for two weeks! We'll have a blast together, just the two of us!"

"What about Carter?" Kai interjected as he raised one of his eyebrows. "And either way its fine."

"Who cares about Carter, he's got agent stuff to do anyways" Oscar said, glaring at Carter from the corner of his eyes. "And what do you mean it's fine?"

"I mean that my friends and I decided on going to East Sea anyways, so it works out" Kai answered getting up from his seat. "I've got to get back to 'training', I'll talk to you guys later."

Oscar watched Kai walk away before turning to Carter and slapping his phone away.

"Why'd you tell him?" Oscar asked, a pained expression on his face. "It was my big moment to get closer to Kai!"

"It just slipped out, I don't know what to tell you" Carter shrugged, raising his hands to his up in defence. "And I don't think becoming Kai's 'best friend' will get you back together with Eve."

Oscar pouted slightly as he prepared a drink for a nearby customer. "You don't understand Carter, Kai's my student and I take his wellbeing and happiness seriously. Evelynn is like a bonus…"

Carter rolled his eyes hearing this and turned to the stage, sighing slightly as Kai began to play the piano. "I swear its better every time I hear it."

"Do you think its alright to be getting him to do all this?" Oscar asked, leaning against the counter and taking a sip from a drink a customer had left behind.

"What do you mean?"

"The work" Oscar said, gazing nervously at Kai. "Sure, it worked out this time, but what happens when we rip Kai away from his friends? Taking away his childhood all in the name of this music career."

Carter was silent for a moment.

"That may be true, but Kai loves to play music- he'd do it regardless of whether he was working or not. You can hear it in his music." Carter spoke, turning to Oscar seriously. "And I'm sure that if we did go too far Evelynn would burn this Bar down, so we don't have to worry too much."

The two men burst into laughter.

"Yeah I guess you're right" Oscar said, wiping a tear from one of his eyes. "How're his online videos doing? I haven't checked them in a while."

"Well. Really well" Carter said. "His top video has almost gotten a million views, he's begin to gather quite the following. Especially recently, as he gets older his looks keep getting better- it seems he's quite the heartthrob."

The two watched Kai for a moment, observing his looks and getting engrossed in the strange charm he seemed to exude. A strange hint of jealousy appearing in their eyes as they thought about how others would react if they knew Kai was in incredible shape under all those clothes on top of everything else.

"I guess he's getting pretty decent looking." Oscar mumbled. "Only a bit though."

…

The train shook as it left the Heaven Dou station, the city quickly passing them by as the train began to speed up. Kai slipped in some earbuds and began to listen to music, looking up Kai sighed when he saw what Oscar was wearing.

Oscar was in a floral print button up shirt and baggy shorts with sandals, as though they were already at the beach. Not only that, but he had also somehow already found himself a beer and was drinking happily in the booth.

Next to Oscar was Carter, who was like Oscar's exact opposite. He was wearing a brown suit, similar to the ones he normally wore, as he read through a large pile of documents. It seemed that whenever he was outside the bar, Carter was always doing some work.

Sitting next to Kai were Bjorn and Jax. Bjorn wore a simple tank top with shorts and sandals, trying his best to show off his muscles. Kai could swear that Bjorn would occasionally try and flex, but Kai couldn't really tell because of how skinny Bjorn was.

Jax, however, was wearing a comfy black hoody and ripped jeans. He had snuck out the strange grimoire or diary from his family's library and was reading through it even now. Whenever Bjorn wasn't trying to flex he would try and sneak a peak at what Jax was looking at.

Ashe was snoring loudly, resting her head against Emma as she slept. Ashe had her hair tied back in a ponytail and was wearing a baseball cap. She wore a white t-shirt with men's black sport shorts and sneakers.

Emma read a book, not caring that Ashe was using her as a personal pillow. Emma wore a cute white and pink floral print sundress. She had a pair of ankle strap sandals on. Every once and a when Kai wasn't looking she would look up and glance at Kai before hurriedly returning her attention to her book.

Unbeknownst to them, a couple booths away Rick and Jade sat together. Jade had her legs crossed as Rick poked his head out of the booth.

"See anything?" Jade asked, crossing her arms in frustration.

"Nothing yet" Rick answered. He pulled his head back in, looking worriedly at Jade. "Are you sure we should be doing this? We didn't tell our parents about leaving."

Jade glared at him for a moment before answering. "Jax stole a book from the library, and I want to know what it is."

"Then why'd we follow them? Couldn't we have just waited for them to come back?" Rick asked, confused as to why they were going through so much trouble.

"Because his 'friend', Kai, got me killed in the Ascension platform!" Jade yelled and looked out the window pouting. "And I need to get back at him."

"How're you going to do that?" Rick asked.

"I'll figure it out later!" Jade glared at Rick as she spoke angrily. "Stop asking so many questions and keep watching, who knows when they'll do something suspicious!"

Jade then turned away in anger, giving Rick the silent treatment and completely ignoring him. She then closed her eyes, wanting to rest until either they arrived, or something happened.