Chapter 29: Breakfast With Acquaintance
"Saguaro my dear, could you please take out the bread from the oven?" The sweet voice of a middle-aged woman reasoned inside the kitchen.
She had pale skin that was mostly entirely covered by her brown pastry outfit, but they still weren't able to cover her wide hip from the world. She had green hair that was styled in a curled side ponytail, while most were hidden by her beige chef hat.
"Right on it my lovely Katy." The person who responded to her was a more burly man, where if anyone dared to tell this man wasn't a bodybuilder or an ancient general, then he would be regarded the same way as if someone told him that the sky was red. The man also had a tchick mustache across his face and curly black hair that made him look like an extremely intimidating man. But this impression would be completely destroyed after seeing what he was wearing, a pink shirt with white stripes in a linear shape. And over it was an apron where we could read 'Don't Worry, I'm a Pro-fry-onal!'.
"Lovely Katy?! Since when I'm only you're lovely Katy? What happened to my precious honey?" Katy complained humorously as she took a tray of uncooked cookies and put them into the oven.
"Well it disappeared as my love for you when you said that no one would eat my sandwich!" Saguaro grumbled in fake anger as he reached for the burning hot bread deep into the furnace without even bothering to wear mittens to protect him from the burn. However, despite his enormous hand, he made sure to grab each piece of bread as delicately as he could, to make sure not a single bruise tarnished their appearance.
"Well of course they won't! Do you realize what time it is!? Do you really think there exists a single teenager who would be ready to wake up at 6 am when they don't have any school!?" Katy argued back, but it didn't mean she stopped working, as she reached for some floor and some chansey egg.
Saguaro sulked toward her reply, but he didn't argue back, knowing very well that he couldn't refute her point and anything more would be in bad faith.
He could only sight and look at the sandwiches he put so much love into them and that were sadly starting to cool down on the table. He prepared them in advance because he thought that some students would wake up early to eat, but he completely forgot the clientele he was facing.
For the first years, the only candidates who were selected to pass the test were those under the recommendation of the people who invested in the academy. So to put it shortly, only the children of the rich were allowed to participate. And despite all of the goodwill Saguaro was willing to give them, he wouldn't consider them as the more willing to wake up so early. Of course, he heard that there were fewer students who joined the academy than expected, but he still considered that most, if not all of them were under a rich patron.
But that was only the impression he was under.
*Swift*
For the first time since they got there, both cooks stopped their work and looked over their counter in shock.
When Saguaro was able to identify the new arrival, he immediately threw a smirk toward his wife who rolled her eyes toward his newfound cockiness.
"Well, it seems I was right in the end."
"Please, you believed it as much as me."
"It's not time to debate on such an obvious matter, we have students we need to feed!" The burly man denied all of his previous opinions to move ahead of their counter to greet the students.
The group was easy to guess of course, it was simply the member of the dorm of Luciel.
'Hmm, blindfold, wearing white hair…ah! He must be the kid Joy warned us about…what is he doing waking up so early then? He should take more care of his health.' Saguaro thought, but he still made sure to keep his brightest smile when they advanced toward him.
"Hi, are you the cook here?" Cynthia asked.
"Ah yes, you can call me Saguaro, I'm the one in charge of breakfast and dinner, and behind me is my darling honey, Katy, who is the one that takes charge of every sweet made her. Now enough about me, what do you wish to have to fill your stomach?" He said while pressing his two hands together to seem even more friendly, but Cynthia ignored him in favour of looking up at the menu that was installed right above the kitchen.
"I want the….euh…"
Saguaro paid no mind to Cynthia losing focus on him, as he was already used to this comportment, and instead he watched the other members, but his eye stopped on Allister, who immediately backed away in fright.
Outside, the chef didn't show any change, but inside he was pretty affected by Allister's reaction, as despite him trying everything to look more friendly than possible, he knew his appearance would still scare others.
This was why his eyes were drawn upon the only individual who didn't seem affected by his appearance, contrary to the other, even Cynthia only acted brave, but even she showed some restraint toward him by putting her hand near her pokeball.
Of course, Luciel might very well be even more terrified than the others, but there was no way he could tell considering that Luciel simply showed absolutely no emotion at all, which was a pretty unnerving experience for him.
'What are you doing you fool, judging someone else by their appearance, that exactly what you want others to avoid on yourself!' Saguaro chastised himself and resumed back to looking at them calmly.
And it was Clair who commended first. "Well if you would excuse me, but I have a very severe regime I must partake in, so I ask for my diet to respect several instructions. Would you be able to make a meal respecting these criteria?" Clair explained while handing over a paper full of instructions and restrictions to Saguaro.
The chef turned his head toward her before reaching with his enormous hand the little piece of paper and reading it as fast as possible. "I see, I have just the perfect thing for your…special need." He tried to sound cheerful, but a hint of concern still appeared on his face.
However, it changed to pity when he realized that Clair almost seemed sad that he could indeed follow her diet, even if she tried to hide it to the best of her capacity.
'Poor girl…these damn fool, don't they have better thing to do than forcing their desire on their descendants?'
But despite his sincere wish, he was but a cook, and he didn't have any authority on the girl's situation. The only thing he could was to make sure the girl would enjoy her meal.
And not like he had the time either, as Mina started to take her order…if it could be called that. "Sincerely, you can give me anything…just nothing bitter…or vegetable…berry is good…except sitrus berry, these are more than fine…actually I'm sure there was a better way for me to say it…" Mina rambled without even bothering to look at the menu…or maybe she just didn't have the force to even look up.
"Hmm, an 'anything', a classic." Saguaro joked, but he already had an idea on what to prepare her.
Finally, he looked toward Allister, but to his sadness, he still looked scared of him, even trembling behind Luciel.
So with no other choice, he had to talk to him directly. "…is there anything you would like?"
Allister immediately backed away in fear, to the point that he almost fell down, but he was caught by Pandora before he could fully lose his balance. "Ah…I…I'm sorry…" Allister nervously tried to apologize for being startled, but it only made him even more nervous.
Noticing his hesitation, Luciel turned around to look at Allister and he simply stared at him. "What do you want to eat?"
Allister panicked even more and threw a glance at the chef, but Luciel stole his vision of the world with the exception of himself.
Currently, Allister was only able to look at Luciel, as everything else was devoid of any shape.
Something similar happened to the people surrounding them, except that it was their hearing that was stolen, as they became completely incapable of hearing anything.
But instead of being scared of such a sight, it reassured him.
"I…I want to oatmeal…with cinnamon on it…and some nannab berry on it."
Luciel nodded, before giving back the vision and the hearing of everyone before looking toward Saguaro who tried his best to look calm after what happened, but cold sweat still dropped from his face.
'…so this is the power of an archon…the power to completely overwrite our sense without having the possibility to fight it off…I'm glad we are no longer in the context of war, or else the casualty would be even higher than usual.
…then how strong is miss Geeta for being able to kill one by herself without even being an esper?'
Some fleeing thoughts appeared in his mind, but he was still able to discard them when Luciel started to speak to him. "Allister wants the oatmeal with cinnamon and some nannab berry on top."
Saguaro noted the request inside his mind before looking toward Luciel. "And what would you wish for?"
Despite the question being the same he answered for Allister so confidently, yet it was still able to completely put his thoughts in complete panic
'Me? What do I want? Poképuff of course…but why does he ask me? Do I have the right to ask for something for myself? Is it my right?! Was it written in the contract? No, of course not it was not written in the contract, you've read it and there was nothing about that in the contract!'
"Lu…Luciel?" Allister looked at him with confusion.
"He wants poképuff." Cynthia responded for Luciel without even looking toward him."
"Poképuff…ah! You want poképuff, of course, of course." He nodded and was prepared to say the command to his wife, before remembering the plan Joy gave to him about this boy. "Ah sorry boy, but there's a nutrition plan you need to follow, so we can't allow you to only eat poképuff."
"No poképuff?" Despite showing absolutely no change in expression, Saguaro could understand that his words somewhat made Luciel sad.
"Oh don't listen to this fool, you can eat as many as you want, but make sure to share with your friend too, alright?" Katy came to her husband's rescue hand and handed over a basket full of poképuff.
"Katy, you know very well that…
Before he could finish his sentence, Katy put her finger right in front of Saguaro's lip. "Let not dwell on such useless matter, we have students to feed don't we?" She said with a smirk so big that it also looked like it could penetrate her eye.
But instead of being mad at her counterattack, he only laughed out loud. "Hahaha, I love it when you're feisty like this."
But their lovely moment was interrupted by Cynthia who finally finished her answer. "Can I have ice cream?"
"NO!" Katy immediately ignored her husband to refuse Cynthia's demand with a stern look. "Ice cream this early in the morning would be very bad for your health, and it is not even on the menu in the first place! Why did you look so much at the menu if it was just to say something that wasn't on it?"
"Well first, I took so long because I was searching for ice cream on the menu," Cynthia started by responding calmly, before immediately changing her expression to one of anger." And second! How dare you! You just gave Luciel his poképuff, but you refuse to give my ice cream on the excuse it is bad for my health!? What is the difference between the t…" Cynthia's voice suddenly disappeared before she could finish her complaint.
'Sorry Cynthia, but I can't let her make the chef change her mind, I was already so close to not even being able to get them.' Luciel thought as he tried to look away from where Cynthia was standing, a useless behaviour of course as she immediately locked on him when she realized she couldn't talk anymore.
Katy of course noticed the abnormality of the situation, but she allowed it to go as she had more important things to do than to argue with a student about why patisserie and ice cream can't be compared to one another. Like for example, one is a sweet made by her, so it is beyond excellent, the other is a sweet not made by her, so it is worse than trash, a very simple addition. But something tells her deep down that the blond girl wouldn't accept this sensible answer.
So with this distraction gone, she left to start their command. Her husband might not have told her what he thought they should make for them, but she could easily guess by what she heard, she was the one who taught him every meal he knew.
"Dear student, would you be so kind as to give back your classmate her voice? My honour as a chef wouldn't allow me to give her a meal she didn't wish for."
Luciel showed no sign of caring for his words, but Cynthia's voice still returned.
"Ah! It back! Alright then, because apparently the best canteen in the world still lacks taste, I want something sweet…do you have pancakes? Give me a pancake with some razz colie on top of it. And if I can't have some ice cream, then at least put some whipping cream inside it."
"Hmm, this can easily be made, do not worry dear student, I will make sure that all of your meals will be to your satisfaction. But during your wait, you may wait at the table behind you, and one of our designated workers will bring the meal for you."
The group nodded before leaving the counter to find somewhere to sit.
The cafeteria was composed of two parts, the first part was obviously the kitchen where the chef was. It was composed of every single kitchen equipment someone could think of, but the most impressive thing was their freezer that contained enough food of multiple varieties, some were extremely rare and would cost a fortune for even a wealthy man. Most of the workers hired in the kitchen were actually tasked with taking care of the multiple plants instead of actually preparing the food.
On the other side was the table and seat with a blue wall with drawings of pokemon eating distributed among the room. The floor was a perfect white with beautiful motifs inscribed on the floor to give it a royal air to it. Even with such competition, the table didn't have to worry about looking ugly compared to it, as their white marble synthesized perfectly the floor it was standing on with its top being covered by gold with a pokeball design inscribed in the center that almost covered all the table. There were two types of tables, the smaller ones were in circles, and the bigger ones were rectangles. Lastly, the seat was in oval shape and it was also made out of white marble, but a blue cushion was installed above it and on the back of its user to make sure they would be the most comfortable than possible.
However, there was one particularity that wasn't mentioned and it was that the room, and the table by approximation were enormous. At least fifteen chairs could fit on one side of the largest table in the room, and the smaller ones were able to fit ten chairs in total. There didn't exist any single seat table in the room, as the architect wanted to force the students to interact together during their meal, but they didn't plan for so few students being accepted, so this plan went down the drain.
Luciel's dorm decided to sit on a circular table, with Allister and Mina sitting beside Luciel. Cynthia stood on the opposite side of Luciel, while Clair made sure to sit at a place where both of her sides were free.
The moment everyone was sitting, Cynthia started to talk. "Alright, while we have time, let's talk about our plan after we're done eating."
Cynthia inspected to scene to make sure no one had any objection and nodded when she saw there were none. "So first let's go hitting the clothing shop, you three really need it." She said while pointing toward Luciel's surroundings.
"What's wrong with my dress?" Mina responded indagated.
Clair was the one who answered the question, of course it meant she couldn't hold back her snarky comment. "It looks like you cut three holes inside a potato bag and decided to wear it every single day of the rest of your life. You couldn't even be bothered to wash it!"
"…I mean…it not a potato bag…so is it fine?"
"Moving on!" Cynthia forcibly changed the subject to avoid another conflict, especially when she noticed that Allister was starting to get uncomfortable, which would also mean that Luciel would soon steal her voice if she continued like that. "We know what we're doing first, but does anyone else have anything else they want to do after? Because I refuse to spend the rest of my day inside the dorm!"
"Well…I would need some…school material…like some notebook…" Allister shyly proposed, but he didn't expect that Cynthia would look at him in shock. Even if he was confused by her exaggerated reaction, he still tried to justify himself to them. "Wait…I wasn't able to have them sooner because…well because I didn't expect to pass in the first place."
"Well at least you held yourself into the hope you deserve." Clair, who was the only one not shocked by his demand, mocked Allister with a grin. But she immediately shut her mouth when she saw Luciel move his head toward her, as she was scared he would steal her voice once more.
Having her voice stolen wasn't painful, it wasn't even uncomfortable. But it was terrifying, as no matter how much they tried to scream, not a single sound would leave their mouth.
"I'm sorry for displeasing you lord Luciel." Clair quickly apologized to try to avoid his punishment.
Luciel looked at her confused for a short moment, before retracting his head back toward Allister.
Yet a fleeing thought was still able to take hold of his mind.
'She fear me…'
But he wasn't allowed too much time to think about it as Cynthia started to panic. "Wait, what do you mean we have to buy our own schoolbook? He didn't tell me anything about that!"
Clair waved her hand to reassure Cynthia and Allister. "There is no need to worry about your school material, the academy will take charge of providing you with everything you need. In fact, they already did." Clair explained while showcasing her wrist, where her own Meltan resided. "I don't know where these pokemon came from, but they seem to be able to register any type of information, so you will just have to take your note on them, and the school books are probably also on them."
"Oh…nice…I was scared that I forgot about it…well I guess I did, but I suffered no consequence this time." Mina added discreetly before reaching for a poképuff from the basket on Luciel's lap.
Luciel immediately glared at Mina with indignation, but she didn't even notice it as bringing it. 'MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!' This world keeps repeating inside his mind, but in the end he did nothing more than watch her, as he remembered the order made by Katy.
This was why he didn't notice Allister also reaching for a poképuff until he nudged him by his shoulder. He didn't turn his head to look at him, but Pandora still gazed at his reaction, which allowed Luciel to notice that he was actually handing the treat to him.
'What is he doing? Doesn't he want to steal it from me?'
"You…you can…have it." He said while trembling slightly. "I…noticed…you wanted one…"
"But you're supposed to only share it with your friend, that's what the lady told me."
"But you are my friend…aren't you?" Allister asked innocently but with a slight trace of fear in his voice.
'…are we?' That was what Luciel wanted to answer, but something else poisoned his mind. 'Why wouldn't it matter? He agrees to be your friend, you might not trust him, but what importance does it have that you do not truly care about him? He doesn't know that, nor will he ever know about it.'
…then why was he hesitating?
'It would be…selfish…he gives me his trust…and I won't give mine?'
'…I can't do that…'
'…I already was selfish enough by being born…'
But just as Luciel was about to refuse the poképuff, the door of the cafeteria opened with force. Which was quite strange as they were sliding doors.
"ALLISTER! I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU!!!"
The group looked at the front door in surprise, just to see a dark-skinned woman separating the two doors with her bare hand as she looked around the scene, until her eye locked on Allister.
"Be…Bettrave?" Allister screamed in shock as Bea proceeded to run extremely fast toward him, before realizing the scene in front of her.
'This is…some sort of pastry…Allister doesn't often receive sweets…yet he's giving it to the vile fiend…only one conclusion is possible! He is abusing Allister's kindness to extort him of this cake!' Bea made a quick guess of the situation before pushing away to stand in between the two.
But it was at this moment that she realized she made a mistake. 'Wait, I can't hurt him, the instructor forbade me from doing so…and even if I could, he is too strong for me to stop him, as he was easily able to incapacitate someone who made the whole room kneel. So I need to find a way to pacify him…I know!'
"Don't steal Allister sweet, instead you can steal mine!" Bea made a boastful proposition, which made Luciel more confused than aggravated.
It was Mina who remarked the abnormality first, as the other were currently in shock at how suddenly the situation happened. She wasn't shocked of course, as she was used to facing situations she didn't fully understand. "You don't have any sweet…how do you want Luciel to steal your sweet? Also, can it really be called stealing if you agree to give it away?"
Bea's eyes widened as she looked toward Mina as if she was a genius. "You're right, I need a sweet…" Bea heisted for a moment before her few neurons made the decision to beg Allister. "Oignon, could you pass me a pastry?"
Allister looked at her in confusion before handing her the poképuff he was holding and handing it over to Luciel instead. "Now you no longer have to steal the dessert of my friend, understood?"
Clair threw a quick look at Luciel to make sure he wouldn't punish her, and as she noticed he was still confused by the current situation, she took the chance to be snarky again. "You're not very intelligent, are you?"
Bea looked truly confused at the comment before looking at Allister as if she knew he would answer her unasked questions. "…Betrave…you gave away my sweet as you he shouldn't touch it."
Bea's mouth fell in shock as she looked at Luciel in horror when she realised what she just gave him.
'…so she gave me this as a payment? So it doesn't mean we're friends and I'm obligated to trust her?' Luciel didn't even focus on the absurdity of the scene, only trying to resonate how to interpret the scene.
"Why are you reacting this way anyway?" Allister asked in confusion as he left his chair to allow her to sit down on it.
"Ah right! I was woken up by a strange voice inside my head, and I immediately saw the message you left me, so for you to try to wake me up so early, I could only assume you were in danger!"
Allister's expression grew more relaxed when he heard this explanation, as he was also used to Bea always misunderstanding his message. "Bea, I was only asking you if you wanted to go out with us to shopping."
"Oh…" She turned back toward Luciel, before making a 90o bow toward him. "My apologies for aggressing you for my own mistake…once again." After making her apologize, she sat down on the chair of Allister, as he sat on another chair.
"A strange voice woke you up? Well I guess it can only be Sabrina." Cynthia remarked, not even addressing the previous situation. "She did say she would come with us…I wonder where she is?"
"What do you mean?" Luciel asked curiously as he took a bite of his poképuff gleefully, before pointing at the chair right beside Cynthia. "She's already there."
Cynthia blinked rapidly, before slowly turning to the side, and saw Sabrina sitting right beside her as normally as if she had been there from the start.
But as if she realized that people finally noticed her presence, she also turned to face Cynthia without speaking words…with her own voice of course.
'Good morning. Thank you for agreeing to spend the day with me.' That was all she said to everyone, except Luciel, before acting once more as quietly as possible.
Clair tried to act as calm as she could, as she bowed toward her, even if she was still extremely surprised by her sudden apparition.
Cynthia nearly jumped out of her seat out of surprise, but she was able to hold it in.
Not like Allister who did fall off his chair out of suprise.
"Allister, are you alright?" As Bea stood up to make sure he was fine, Cynthia tried to make her introduction to Sabrina.
But before she could even present herself, Sabrina already responded to all of her comments. 'Enchanted Cynthia. Very impressive indeed. Good luck becoming the strongest trainer.'
'Eh? How did she know what I was going to…oh…mind reading?' Cynthia guessed, and she got her confirmation with Sabrina briefly nodding in front of her.
'Yes.'
'Oh, then…'
Sabrina didn't let Cynthia finish her thought, as she already knew what the rest would be. 'My only wish is to just live a normal life without any conflict, so it shouldn't stop you from becoming friends with me.'
'…gre…'
Sabrina briefly shook her head to make Cynthia understand thing aren't what she will think will be. 'However I will, I am only here for the Gloom Archon protection, I have absolutely no interest in becoming friends with any of you.'
'…'
'…I wouldn't make a good friend anyway.' Sabrina transmitted with a tone that Cynthia could deduce as the same sadness.
'…what do you mean by…'
'I mean that currently Luciel is probably among the strongest entities in this academy that would be willing to protect me.'
Cynthia frowned and pointed at herself. 'What abo…'
'You may be talented and have a promising future, but you are not able to protect me.'
A vein bulged on Cynthia's brow, but to distract others from noticing it, she started to actually speak. "…did you command your food? What about I help you…"
'Your anger is very noticeable, especially to the fairy esper, you should calm down. I did not mean any hostility with my comment, I was simply stating that even if you're a strong battler, you have not earned yet the reputation to dissuade my enemy from even attacking me in the first place.' Sabrina transmitted directly to Cynthia.
'Enemy?'
Noticing her mistake, Sabrina started to diffuse her message to everyone in the group…except Luciel whom she wasn't even able to make contact with.
'I already commended my breakfast, same for the one of the one named Bea by speaking directly in the mind of the cook, so there no need to bother them again.'
"Ah…thanks." Bea awkwardly thanked her as she helped Allister sit back on his chair.
Everyone's head turned toward Luciel as they noticed that his halo of fear started to grow in intensity. "Why aren't you speaking to me?"
'We're near each other now, what stopping her to communicate with me? Does she really just hate me?
Sabrina stayed mute, but she still transmitted the message to Allister which immediately relied it back to Luciel. "Ah…she said she's just unable to make contact with your mind."
"…are you mute then?" Luciel mentioned that even if she couldn't contact him in his mind, which was absurd to him, it would be the same as if she told him he lost his mind, which he didn't…he swore that she could still talk to him in a normal manner.
There was no answer to that.
"…well I'm blind…and a heretic…so glad to meet you. I hope we will make a great pair." Luciel said while performing once again a smile that could scare any children watching it.
But strangely, Sabrina's own smile softened when she saw it.
'…how cute...he's so cute…no…I must resist…but he's so cute!'