Chapter 194 Crash Course
'This is the Nix that was spoken about?' Zephyr narrowed his eyes, a little confused by the appearance of this person in front of him.
"Long live Arkai..." Zephyr mouthed the words, barely audible, trying to get some sort of reaction from Nix.
Nix's body stiffened from that bit of information. This was a word he and Drui had always used when they conversed on the world they would create, how they had incorporated a few anime references to Nix's creation, and a few of his suggestions.
Mr. Zhao felt the rigid behavior by Nix and was curious about what had made him react in some way.
"Why is this loser here?" Obsidian spat in disdain.
Nix pushed back, finally being able to be free from Mr. Zhao's clutches.
Solis looked around, concerned about the fact that the females weren't included. He could only rely on Lumina and Gia to watch over his sister.
This looked more like a male mission of five.
Zephyr held the glare of Obsidian, never saying a word. Having transmigrated into this body, he couldn't gauge how good the relationship with the original host was with this strange animal-like male.
Thread wisely was his motto. The only one he felt some sort of conversation was with Nix who strangely shared the same name with his ex-friend.
Nix was troubled by this new information, looking distracted with his eyes searching the marble floor.
Mr. Zhao cleared his throat, pulling Zephyr to his side, "it is my pleasure to announce that Zephyr would be accompanying you four to your very first mission."
Obsidian snarled, all hairs on his body stood in defiance of the news. The scent that came off Zephyr didn't sit right with him, it almost reminded him of Arion.
"What the heck is going on between the two of us?" Zephyr snapped in response, tired of the one-sided hate that he couldn't attribute to.
Obsidian merely scoffed, "it would seem that peekaboo doesn't remember anything. Great!"
'Great?! What the heck happened between these two?' Zephyr sweatdropped, feeling that he was caught in some crossfire.
Nix stared at Zephyr, trying to piece the information together. Hana's words continued to ring in his head. He couldn't quite place if the other transmigrator was Zephyr–his supposed loss of memory could be attributed to his chances of being the one.
'If he is... then how is he going to be an opposition to my plans?' Nix sighed, shaking the thought off his head.
"Welcome to the team, I guess." Solis tried to sound like his enthusiastic self but couldn't.
He was much more concerned about finishing the mission and going back to his room to personally care for his sister. She was on the verge of full recovery and he wanted to be there for her when that happens.
"Thanks, I guess," Zephyr replied in a like manner.
Mr. Zhao watched for a while, curious about the tension that was among the five of them. For a split second, he considered the wisdom of his master's decision.
He noticed how Nix and Zephyr stole suspicious glances at each other. They seemed to have something against the other but were too calm to act on it–yet.
"Alright then, since the introduction is over, we head down to business..."
Nix raised his hand, skeptical about this whole setup, it was strange that they had been given a mission just four days after getting into the organization.
The part of single-handedly picking out only the males was suspicious enough, but including someone who made his skin crawl? That was intentional.
Until he could find out what they were hinting at, he would have to be as cautious as possible.
Mr. Zhao gritted his teeth, trying to calm his angered thoughts on the pause in his words. With a reluctant mind, he nodded his head to Nix's hand.
"Why do I feel like we are cannon fodder?" Nix raised, suspicious about the mission they were about to embark on.
Zephyr's eyes widened at the word, this was the same word Nix uses when he feels reluctant and suspicious about where he was headed.
All he hoped was this was merely a coincidence of words, all should be acquainted with such a word.
"What's cannon fodder?" Mr. Zhao questioned, confused by such a suggestion.
'Damnit, curse you Arkai and your vocabulary!' He rained down profanities on the world he was in.
It looked to him like he was a little out of place, occasionally explaining the simplest of words.
When his attention drew to Zephyr, he noticed how shocked he was, almost like he had understood what was being said, if that was the case, it would be a bad sign in his book.
Nix looked behind him, expecting some sort of help from them, this was as simple a word as it could go.
"This shouldn't be too hard," Nix smiled.
When he got looks that showed they were merely avoiding him, he let out a sigh of disappointment.
'So it would seem only Zephyr knows about this.' He internally facepalmed.
"I meant that do you consider us expendable enough to put us directly in the face of danger?"
Mr. Zhao burst into laughter at his words, this was by far the best that Nix had said since the compliment he got back at the academy.
"You know what? You're weird and I like weird." Mr. Zhao said with a smirk.
'Well, I certainly do not like you.' Nix replied in his mind.
"Even though you spoke in a weird language..."
'A weird language that I certainly can relate to.' Zephyr cut in, on his thoughts.
"... I would like you to know that any mission given by the organization is a dangerous one, one that would only build you up in strength and energy. Take it as much of a crash course, you learn it on the mission, it is a mandatory task for male recruits, the females would have theirs later on." Mr. Zhao explained to the best of his ability while covering up the real truth.
"If that's the case, why is he tagging along?" Obsidian hissed, pointing at Zephyr.