Ari and Jamie continued joking around as they drove to drop off the trumpet, then to the church for Ari to wipe the makeup from his face and put on his snail mask, and finally to the bathhouse and the restaurant next door.
As Ari walked in, seeing Grandma Lisa and Grandma Kim dressed in matching red tracksuits this time while holding a mini congratulations banner and balloons for him and Granny Choi standing beside them, tears began to well up in his eyes.
"My baby Ari! Congratulations. Oh, what a strange mask you're wearing. Is this what's trending these days?" Grandma Lisa immediately ran over to give him a hug.
"You don't even know if I made it." Ari sniffed a bit before hugging her back as she began patting his face mask all around.
"Of course, you made it. You're so pretty and talented, who wouldn't love you. And even if you didn't, we're proud of you for trying it anyway."
As Grandma Lisa clung to him, her blond hair flying everywhere, Grandma Kim and Granny Choi nodded approvingly before staring at Jamie, who was awkwardly standing behind him.
"Is that your friend? The one you've been spending a lot of time with?"
Granny Choi asked with narrowed eyes as she looked Jamie over.
He was still wearing his cowboy boots but had removed his cowboy hat and put his hair up in a half-up, half-down bun style to keep the hair out of his face.
"Yes, this is Jamie, the friend who has helped me so much throughout this whole process. Jamie, Grandma Kim, Granny Choi, and Grandma Lisa, who have taken care of me more than I can thank them for." Ari pointed to each one in turn.
"Nice to meet you, ma'ams. You all look lovely tonight. My name is Jamie Jones the third. But you can call me Jamie." Jamie tipped his head politely as he held his hand out for a handshake.
His face was a little bit nervous, but his tone was polite as he tried to shrink his tall height down.
The three women examined him before breaking into wide smiles at his introduction.
"Nice to finally meet one of Ari's friends. You're very pretty, Jamie." Grandma Lisa smiled happily and gave Jamie a big hug.
"Very tall, very handsome. Almost as handsome as our Ari," Grandma Kim's reaction was a bit cooler as she shook Jamie's outstretched hands before leaning on her red cane.
"Hmmmm. Pretty face. Nice height. Not beaten up. Good friend choice." Granny Choi nodded before turning to Ari.
"Is he staying to eat?"
"Yes. He also made it so we're celebrating him as well."
"Okay. Yeobo! Add more meet to the grill" Granny Choi entered the restaurant and began yelling while Ari led Grandma Lisa, Grandma Kim, and Jamie to a seat toward the back where he usually ate with Grace while avoiding the curious eyes of those in the restaurant.
Grandma Kim and Grandma Lisa sat on one side of the table while Jamie and Ari sat on the other.
"You have a lot of grandmothers," Jamie whispered, and before Ari could say anything, Granny Choi magically appeared with a wooden spoon held in a threatening manner.
"Gyahhhhhhh!!!" Jamie almost fell out of his chair in fear, and Ari hid his laugh as Granny Choi asked if Jamie wanted white rice or purple rice
"P-purple rice? Rice is purple?"
"It's good. He'll take it. This kid eats anything." Ari answered for Jamie before going to help.
As Ari helped bring the food out for the table, he got to observe Jamie being completely overwhelmed by Grandma Lisa and Grandma Choi repeatedly adding more food to his plate and scolding him.
"Eat more, you're too skinny."
"I don't think I'm skin-"
"You need to eat enough to grow taller."
"I'm actually tall enough-"
"Add more veggies, so you can preserve that youthful face."
Granny Choi joined in, Grandma Kim turned to Ari and asked him with a nonchalant expression.
"So singing, huh? You want to be on TV?"
"I guess so," Ari replied casually.
"Hmmm. Okay, send me the information so I can watch you and vote."
"Okay."
The casual conversation between the two seemed to lull before Grandma Kim began speaking again.
"How do you like living here?" Grandma Kim pretended to pick at something on her plate while avoiding his eyes.
"I like it. Thank you for referring me even though I was hardheaded." Ari reached out and held her hand, squeezing it gratefully.
"Hmmmm… good. Make sure you do well." Grandma Kim gave him a happy smile before reaching out and patting his cheek.
"I will."
The rest of dinner passed peacefully, except for Jamie and Ari trying to cover it and finding out that Grandma Lisa and Grandma Kim had paid days in advance.
As Ari waved to them entering their ride share and then walked Jamie to his car, the other boy looked full but a little sad.
"This…was really fun. Thank you for inviting me."
"Thanks for coming and tolerating them. I think they had a little too much fun teasing you."
"I still enjoyed it quite a lot."
"Good. Maybe we can do this next time, too." Ari spoke hopefully.
"Do you think there will be a next time? Do you think that we can both make it all the way?"
"I hope so. I hope I make it, and I hope you make it too. All we can do is try our hardest, right? You're talented, I'm possibly talented. We can do it, so chin up. Okay?" Ari pretended to uppercut Jamie's chin, and the other boy immediately put him in a headlock, not releasing him until he tapped out.
"11-2. I keep telling you to hit the weights."
"And I keep saying weight lifting can't overcome a height advantage. Stop avoiding the situation and get in your car. You can't sleep at my place, and you need to pack."
"Ughhhhh okay." Jamie smiled reluctantly before sighing once more.
"I'd better head back. Traffic and all that. I'll come get you around 9? The place is about an hour's drive, so we should make it by 10. I know how much you like to be on time."
"Sounds good. Drive safely."
"Will do."
Ari waved Jamie off until his car disappeared, then, with a groan, he began jogging around the immediate neighborhood.
It was unfortunate, but he still needed to complete his repeat missions.
The future of his face depended on it.
He completed his 3k run before entering the church and finishing the lunges, crunches, and push-ups with shaking arms and legs.
He then sang lightly for an hour, danced the only choreography he knew for an hour before staring at his status screen.
"First, let's add the Snail Mask Stat to the Visual stat.
[Sure.]
[Visual + 1]
[Ariel Matisse]
[Vocals: A]
[Dance: F]
[Visual: F+]
[Rap: F]
[Charm: A]
[Skills: Picky Listener (B), Pen Pal (C)]
[Current Rewards: 5 Stat Points & .25 Visual Stat Point & 2 Gacha Gift Tokens]
"Hmmmm….should I begin the process of fixing my face?" Ari muttered to himself as he stared at his reflection in the mirror.