[Intermission] Our Last Banquet Together (2)

"Next is?"

"Me then," Wake raised his hands and arranged his glasses. "The incident I had ever encountered was when I tracked something that wasn't living."

"What do you mean?"

"I can only track living things actually. In the beginning, I didn't know that, and tried my TALENT on a bunch of different objects before coming to this conclusion-- that is after I realized the anomaly of that doll.."

"Do you mean Qui?"

"I'm not referring to you. Actually, it's possible to track Qui, but the connection sometimes gets cut off, probably when Wendy, you return Qui back to normal right?" Wake said

"I do rest my TALENT and let Qui go sometimes, " Wendy carrassed the rabbit plushie.

"Then that's probably why. Oh right. By doll, back when I was in middle school, there was this round paper mache doll that hung on the wall of the class. It was part of the group art project."

"So you were able to track that paper doll?" Prune asked.

"Which is why this incident is strange.. nevermind just tagging it. I even felt it moving-- especially during the night. The general direction of the paper doll would shift a little almost every night. But when you return to class the next day, the paper doll is there, unmoving. But it's signature was there.."

I felt goosebumps at his words. Ghosts are real? No way right?

"And the time I decided to destroy it was after I knew it moved about during the day when we were out in the science lab. As you know, because of the close proximity, it's easier to feel the movement of my targets. When I returned, I saw the paper doll on the ground. I destroyed it then and there, the signature disappeared. And I vowed never to try tag a non-living object ever again."

"What if there's someone who has a similar TALENT to Wendy? That would explain why you could tag the paper doll and why it moved," Kai said.

"I can only hope so," Wake sighed.

"I'll say. That's a pretty good urban legend," Nine said.

"At least nothing bad happened after that incident."

"Speaking of which, how many of us are you tracking right now?" Lyndia asked.

"Noel, Liliath, you, Kai, Wendy, Prune."

"You can cancel it right?"

"I was told not to though?"

"By who?"

"It's confidential," Wake showed a troubled smile. I guess it's probably by Teacher Glib's request-- that's my personal opinion at least.

"Anything else to add? Perhaps a side story to conclude it?" Liliath asked.

"No. That's it for my turn."

"Who goes next?" I asked.

"Then I'll do it," Eunice said-- intelligently. "This happened back during middle school. After receiving my TALENT I never really understood it's effects, tried it once or twice without coming to a conclusion. When the teacher asked about it, I could only reply that I haven't really tested it out since it's not the 'obvious' kind of TALENT. Most psychological TALENTS aren't obvious to begin with."

Pausing, she continued.

"After a while-- things started changing. The two students I charmed with my TALENT started distancing themselves from me."

"Question: male or female," Nine asked.

"Males. You could say it was one of the biggest blunders I've made."

"Wow, so what happened next?"

"Next, I tried my TALENT on a few more students. I know, I was pretty naive. 3 male students and 2 of my female friends.. but there weren't any really big reactions from them, the same as ever. Then I consulted with the teachers. They told me to continue testing.."

Again, taking a pause.

"I recorded the people I used my TALENT on in a journal since I couldn't count them all, making sure to observe the effects since at the time, I thought it was to do with a slight mental interference. And.. when valentine's day came.."

"Hell broke loose."

"Yes," Eunice heaved a sigh.

"So what happened? What kind of hell did you experience exactly?" Kai had a grin on his face.

"That's mean," Voux laughed.

"I got chocolate from, I think, 10 different male students. The shock on their faces when they realized there was a lot of 'competition' was absolutely frightening. And among them, I found one from my english teacher.. 8 out of 10-ish gifts had a love letter inside.." Eunice lowered her head and her forehead touched the table.

"So what did you do with the chocolate? Did you eat them all?" Liliath asked.

"Qui loves chocolate!"

"And everytime Qui takes a chocolate Qui goes right into the washing machine," Wendy reminded, causing Qui to shriek.

"I did.. by sharing it with my parents and little brother. My brother ate most of it though. That's it for my story."

"No, what happened after that? There must be more after Valentine's day right?" Prune prodded further.

"They made a fanclub.."

"Oh…"

Okay. So she did build an army of zealots after all-- best not to comment on it. Now I guess I get why Eunice is so quiet in class. Wait.. did she just say she rejected all the males that sent her a love letter?

"Next up is Voux," Kai nudged his shoulders.

"Why me?"

"Okay, see the trend here. The four of them that live in the same apartment will go last since they're the weirdest of the bunch, and also the main reason for this tea party."

"Speaking of which, what's your TALENT Nine?" Voux asked.

"I'll give you a hint, she's a he."

"Hey.." Nine growled at Kai with a cute girly voice that I just realized I had become so accustomed to.

"What?" Voux was still confused. Reminds me of the first time I met her-- or him.

"Onwards with your story Voux, your question will be answered later," Kai patted him on the shoulder.

"Got it.. So everyone here knows my TALENT right?"

"Yes."

"Yup."

The rest nodded.

"So there was this one time when my friend asked me to wrestle with a cat in my shrunken form."

"Qui!?"

"What's wrong? You tried to wrestle with a cat before too?" Voux asked.

"Yes Qui!" shouted the rabbit with sparkling eyes-- I didn't know it could sparkle like that.

"Ahaha, I see. Continuing, what happened was that they made a bet to see who would win, of course, the majority voted for me, almost everyone thought the cat would lose… almost everyone."

"So.. you lost?"I asked.

"No. I won,"

"And then?"

"That's it."

Huh? So that's it? Just fighting a cat?

"That is rather interesting," Liliath commented. Hm.. I guess if you think about it.. fighting with a cat on equal footing-- at equal size is an interesting concept after all.

"Since I was small it didn't run away and even thought it could hurt me. I actually punched the cat quite a few times before it made a retreat. Funny enough, one of the cat lovers in class who saw that called me a bully.." Voux's shifted his sight to...

"Of course. That was animal abuse!" Saria shouted.

"Says the person who lost the bet."

Oh.. so that's why.. Their relationship sure goes deep huh. Everyone in the room stifled a laugh. Saria pouted.

"So it's my turn now?" Wendy asked.

"That's all from me, go on," Voux, who was scratching his head, gestured. Saria gave him a cold glare.

"Can Qui get a turn?" the rabbit asked just as Wendy was about to open her mouth.

"Sure."

"Then Qui's story is a dream where Qui can eat carrots! Qui!"

Kai applauded.

"AMAZING. AMAZING, that was the most interesting story I've heard," he said with a sarcastic laugh.

"Qui! Qui agrees too! Qui!" the innocent rabbit joined in the empty praise. Is this rabbit straight up dumb or what? Whatever it is, the fact that it doesn't know what the heck is going on is pretty cute.

"Um.." Prune was worryingly confused by it all.

"Detestable," Lyndia sighed.

"I think my favorability towards you is dropping," Eunice remarked.

"I'm joking, I'm joking. But it's really a pity the rabbit can't eat. Wendy, is there really no way Qui can eat?" Kai tried to brush off Eunice's statement.

Wendy shook her head.

"Qui can drink though! But Qui has to go to the washing machine! Qui doesn't want to go to the washing machine!"

"The most interesting thing that ever happened was part of an accident during my birthday. I ate Pizza."

"Uh-huh," Saria nodded, kinda understanding, kinda not.

"I ate Pizza," Wendy showed a very rare smile-- this is familiar. Oh wait, it's that same sadistic smile Liliath showed me in the past-- she doesn't do that very often anymore but.. wow, I just remembered Wendy WAS, and still IS a sadist.

"Let me get this straight. You're saying you turned the pizza into a living thing and ate it."

"Which is why it was an accident," Wendy's expression returned to her monotonous one.