POV Change - 3rd Person
Sen Yarizui felt the familiar rush fill her as she got ready to charge the half-price discount bentos - the half-price God was Kiku Matsuba today. She seemed to particularly take her time today as she smiled calmly as she put the stickers on the plastic covers.
Sen could see the Young Wolf she'd recently taken under her wing - Satou Yoh. He was a bit of a pervert but still, he had the makings of a Wolf.
He was next to her, browsing the food items on the nearby aisle when the two of them felt something. They both turned their heads to see a tall, and from the looks of it, muscular 18-year-old who had ridiculously good-looking features. Like an idol. His silver hair was slightly messy by it sorted him, somehow. His silver-grey eyes flickered around the aisle before landing on the two of them.
Both of them, at that moment, felt an instinctive terror that made them want to flee. But where would their pride as Wolves be if they ran at this feeling? So they continued to keep his eye contact and he just smirked before walking past them.
It was only when he'd went past that the two of them that they realized he had a blonde middle schooler on his shoulders.
"Yarizui-san...did he have a loli miko on his shoulders or am I daydreaming?" Satou asked, rubbing his eyes. Sen gave him a reprimanding glare, smacking him on the back of his head lightly before gesturing for him to be quiet. The two of them watched him, watched his movements...and one thing came to mind - he was going for the bentos.
He got behind Kiku, who turned her head to look at him, her level gaze being enough to put most grown men on their ass.
...But against this silver-haired young man, it did nothing.
Just as he was about to move past her and pick up the bentos she'd put the discount sticker on, a hand grabbed his wrist and he looked to the man who'd done it, a smile on his face as if to ask 'Who's got the balls to grab my wrist, huh?'. But Sen realized who it was first, muttering the name just loud enough for Satou to hear and turn his head in surprise as well.
"Wizard..." she said, thinking and wondering about when exactly did her mentor get there? She didn't know. All she and Satou knew was that he practically just appeared there.
Satou helplessly smiled before scratching his chin, "When did he get here...? Why's he even here in the first place...?" he muttered, looking at the two young men looking at each other, obviously thinking about what to do.
"Hm? Why don't you get off of me before you get hurt?" the silver-haired young man said, shocking Sen and Satou, who both narrowed their eyes. The reason he was called Wizard was because his fighting skills were like magic - he could take down dozens of opponents without breaking too much of a sweat. He was renowned as the Strongest Wolf when he was still active.
Wizard, or Yuu Kaneshiro as Sen and Satou knew him, just raised an eyebrow before smiling, "You seem to be new around here, how about I explain the rules to you?" he politely informed but the silver-haired man scoffed before replying.
"Yuu Kaneshiro, also known as Wizard. Once known as the Strongest Wolf. You're not my match, okay? I'll be taking those four half-price bentos and there's nothing you can do about it," he spoke with such a self-assured tone that even Sen found herself believing him and she had the most faith in Wizard - he was her mentor after all. He'd taught her everything she knew...but why did she feel that he'd lose no matter what against this silver-haired guy?
Sen was caught in her own internal dilemma as was Yuu Kaneshiro.
When was the last time someone had spoken to him like this? He couldn't remember. Well, at least not people who actually knew who he was and his skills.
"...Do you have no shame or honor? Can't you see every Wolf around you waiting?" Yuu asked, his expression becoming slightly severe. He'd tried to be helpful and understanding, but it'd been thrown back in his face. Now wasn't the time to take the soft approach.
"Ha!" the silver-haired young man scoffed as he turned his body and head to look around at the Wolves angrily looking at him, "I don't see any Wolves. Just little doggies pretending to be big and tough," he said before pulling his wrist from Yuu's hold, like he was pulling his wrist away from a child's hold. Then, with what looked like a soft push, he pushed Yuu back a few meters until he hit the aisle shelf behind him.
Yuu's face was filled with shock and his instincts screamed one thing:
RUN.
He knew he was outmatched, so even with his anger at being called a dog...he could only choke it down. Just like how everyone else who saw him just manhandle Yuu, couldn't work up the courage to stop him. Even Kiku who would usually stop someone from interrupting the Wolf ritual...couldn't do anything but continue to robotically place the stickers on the bentos. Her instincts wouldn't let her do anything else.
He picked up 4 bentos before passing one to the blonde middle schooler on his shoulders. He turned around and every Wolf staring at him flinched when they saw the savage smile on his face and his bright and metallic silver eyes.
The way they glinted in the light...something about it seemed much too bestial. Especially with his weirdly shaped pupils which looked half-way on the way to becoming vertically slit pupils.
One of the wolves somehow worked up the courage and spoke up; it was Satou.
"If we're not wolves...what are you? You have no pride. No honor," Satou stated, getting multiple nods from around him, including Sen who was glaring at the silver-haired young man. "What makes you better than us?" he finished, his face going slightly pale when the man's silver eyes locked onto him.
"Hm," the man hummed, bringing a hand to his chin in thought before he smiled again, "Well, it would be because I'm truly like what a wolf is. Wolves have no pride. No honor. Because what use is that in the wild? It means nothing," he stated as he began to walk back the way he came, which just so happened to be where Satou was standing. Every step he took rung throughout the store, like an echo of thunder, "A wolf is greedy. A wolf takes what it wants. A wolf...has no need for pride, or honor."
By the end of him speaking, the silver-haired young man was walking past Satou who felt like he'd just had a close brush with death.
No one could bring themselves to look back at the man's back but the man's appearance and aura were embedded in everyone's minds, and rumors of him would be spread across the bento brawling community. The name he was given would ring throughout the heads of young Wolves like the name of the bogeyman...the name?
Monarch of Greed.*
(*A/N - All of the stronger characters have Monarch in their nicknames. Well, apart from Wizard. But still, it fits the anime it's meant to be apart of.)
. . .
POV Change - Haru
"So, are we even? I even brought the extra pork cutlet pack you added to the trolley," I spoke with a sigh, feeling helpless that I owed this glutton anything in the first place.
Artoria looked up at me, her green eyes filled with enigmatic-ness before she closed her eyes and nodded, "You did well, Kobayashi-san. Good job," she said before turning around and disappearing into her and her sister's apartment. I had to hold myself back from running in after her - did she think I wanted to do what I did?! I just did what I had to do to get away from troublesome people!
Le Fay smiled at her sister's antics, and then at me with an apologetic tint to her smile, like she could tell what I was thinking, "I'm sorry about Onee-sama, she's a bit...odd at times--But she doesn't mean anything bad by it, I promise!" she hurried got out, probably thinking I was gonna hate the both of them or something.
"I don't know about that," I said and Le Fay's expression went sad, "But I won't hold it against her. She's pretty cute, after all," I smiled before chuckling at Le Fay's smile which seemed happy for her sister getting a compliment, "Almost as cute as you, Le Fay-chan," I quipped and the little blonde mage went bright red before I lifted a hand and blocked the wooden bokken thrown at me, "Is that jealousy or what, Artoria?" I quipped again before throwing the broken wooden sword back down the hallway at Artoria. All I heard in reply was a grumble of annoyance.
...I wonder if there's a Shirou in this world? If there isn't...I'll help you in his steed, Artoria.
Turning to Le Fay, I smiled at her still red face before patting her big witch hat, ruffling her hair slightly, "Well, I'm off Le Fay-chan. I gave you my address, so if you want to come and play with Kunou, you can come over and I'll take you to her, okay?" I asked and she nodded bashfully, so I smilingly continued, "Then I'm off. See you when I see you~" I walked away, giving one last wave before heading back to the apartment.
Hopefully it's all cooled down by now.
"Hey, Onii-san..." Kunou piped up after having been quiet for a while, "You said Artoria-neesan and Le Fay-neesan were cute...but what about me? Is Kunou cute or not?" she asked, a sad curiosity in her voice.
Shaking my head and smiling helplessly at how girls can be at times, I reached up and gave Kunou's head a pat and a ruffle, getting me a surprised yelp before she pushed against my hand, "Kunou's the cutest there is. No matter what," I said with a smile and upon realizing what I said, Kunou giggled before gripping my head and hugging it, rubbing her cheek against my hair.
Truly, the absolute cutest.
Continuing down the road to my apartment, I had no idea what my earlier decision, to call Kunou the cutest there is, had done and what trouble it would soon bring me. What kind of absolute fuckery I'd spawned by saying such a phrase.
Is being too handsome a curse? Or is it a boon? A bit of both?
Don't expect batches of three chapters every day. That schedule would kill me and my fingers.
Bit of a short chapter but hey, at least you got a chapter, right?
Every character from Bento that appeared in this chapter is literally a one-time appearance. Unless by popular demand they're demanded to be recurring characters, they won't appear again. Anyway, you can look at what he characters look like if you search 'bento wiki characters' and then search for the names I used in this chapter.
...What do you mean 'I don't wanna do it. You do it for me,'? I'm not you're goddamn servant!