Sylvia Fighting again huh.
I doubt they'll be able to fix Full-Summer in just 24 hours.
Oh well. Not my issue.
Riko dragged his arms behind his back, resting his neck as he continued through the same corridor. The same glares followed him, but he embraced them, nodding sarcastically at everyone he passed.
He'd made at least twenty laps around the facility and still hadn't found a place to eat. That's when he noticed three people in yellow jumpsuits drinking coffee— the cups smelled metallic, but he didn't care. Anything to get the sour taste out of his mouth.
"Yo, where'd you get the coffee from?" he asked, approaching the group.
They all simultaneously turned towards him.
The smallest one looked like the life had been sucked from— clearly the cheap metallic coffee hadn't kicked in yet. He spoke first.
"What coffee?"
Riko didn't reply; instead slowly shifted his gaze to the small man's hand and raised his eyebrow.
Then one with big ears stepped in front of him, throwing up a hand and raising his guard. He tilted his neck and screwed his face as he stared down Riko.
"Blue jumpsuit. Which colony are you from?"
Again, Riko didn't answer right away. He paused, grabbed his chin, and thought it over.
Lie or truth.
His passive, almost sheepish reaction only irritated them more. The small one and big-ears exchanged a glance— an unspoken agreement. But the third quickly stepped forward.
Spiky red hair.
His eyes lingered on Riko's jumpsuit.
"Dont worry about it." he smiled at Riko. "Follow me. The cafeteria's just over here."
The other two backed off immediately. Spiky-red clearly held authority among the yellow jumpsuits. His pop-star hair contrasted sharply with his composed, almost noble posture.
As they walked, the glares Riko had been getting turned to respectful nods.
"You weren't here for the tour yesterday?"
Riko was too busy staring down everyone they walked past to reply straight away.
"Oh right… no I just got here today."
Spiky-red laughed softly, amused by Riko's mannerisms. He once again looked at Riko's jumpsuit and then at his hair focusing on the single small braid sitting in his face.
"Cool braid, a trend in your colony?"
"Na, just a family thing I guess."
They finally made it the cafeteria. Two long tables and a row of vending machines. Extremely underwhelming but Riko was too fed up to be pressed. He stopped at each machine analysing all the meals.
"Curry nice, I guess I'll get one of those coffees too."
Shit.
His face dropped, realizing he had no money. Why would he? He was only freed from prison yesterday.
Before his sulking could continue, Spiky-red walked up the machine and scanned his card.
"Oh. Thanks." Riko said with a sincere smile.
Beep
Beep
Beep
The vending machine heated the meal for three minutes, then took an extra forty seconds to spit out the steaming hot metallic coffee.
Spiky-Red walked toward the exit and threw up his arm waving goodbye.
"I have to co-pilot our match tomorrow so I should get going. Take care."
Riko waved back.
Nice guy.
I should probably head back to others as well. Bet this meal will make them jealous.
He sadistically smiled to himself. He couldn't run his hands together since they were full but he was doing so spiritually.
Rushing retracing his steps Riko dashed back to the room. Walking with a boiling hot cup of coffee with minimal padding and a hot plastic dish of curry wasn't the best idea.
After an agonising journey back he made it back to the team, opening the door with a smug face and burnt fingers—
Only to see the rest of the team circled around the group table eating food.
His grin dropped and he quietly sat down at the table as well.
"Oh you got food. We ordered using the phone." Veig said, putting the phone on the wall next to the door.
Despite sitting at the table everyone was still very clearly operating in their own space.
Riko took a mouthful of curry and then lifted his head while still chewing.
"I met some of the other pilots on the way. Pretty sure they are Sylvian. Two weird looking guys, but there's a redhead. He's probably a good pilot."
Lumi looked up to face him but quickly turned away in disgust.
"Don't speak with your mouth full. And get rid of the coffee. It smells gross."
Veig clearly enjoyed watching his juniors dispute. He was covered in too many scars to be frustrated by arguing children.
"You think they're saving their best pilot for last? They only fought today and have been selected to fight tomorrow as well, this tournament… it's brutal."
Riko swallowed hard and took a large gulp of coffee. The heat clearly affected him but pretended it didn't.
"He said he was co-pilot tomorrow, and Full-Summer will probably be out of commission for a few days."
Rune sneered and threw his cutlery down.
"Full-Summer could have been out of commission indefinitely—but you decided not to destroy the core."
Riko took another bite of curry, chewed slowly, then shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe." He said, taking another sip of coffee and laying the cup back down. "But it doesn't matter. I'm fighting every match until I die, that's the deal I made. So it doesn't matter."
Silence consumed the room.
Lumi looked back up towards Riko, he noticed her gaze but awkwardly pretended not to. Till eventually he finished his food and grew frustrated by her stalking eyes, returning his own gaze, leading to them both making eye contact.
"Do you want to die?"
Riko's face shifted, jaw tightened.
"Huh?"
"Do you want to die?"
The taste. He went to pick up his cup again but it was already finished.
"I wouldn't have won today if I wanted to die."
Lumi never once moved but to Riko it felt as if she had somehow stretched closer. Like she was invading him.
"Winning today doesn't mean you don't want to die. Many people want to die, but life guarantees death. So why—."
Veig scraped his chair back across the floor and stood prompting the young princess to stop.
Not a single conversation was held for the rest of the night. The men whole bunked up in the team room but the princess was moved somewhere else.
09 days until Riko Rexton's death.
They all individually sat ready to watch the fight. Lumi was at her desk while the rest sat on the cheap plastic chairs in front of the large screen.
Suddenly the screen opened up to the arena. The hologram this time generated a large landfill. It was different from the city Riko had to fight in. Trash piled all over, nothing useful for the fight other than open space.
This should be interesting.