The smell of fried, baked, and roasted meat wafts to my nose. It's like a hook made out of aroma, grabbing me by the nose and pulling me towards it.

If this type of appeal is even half the kind of feelings that making love feels like, I could understand the obsession with it.

I maintain a proper posture and frame to not look embarrassing.

“So… can you take us in, please?” I ask.

“Yes! Let's go in already, great teacher!” Hessien is close to getting on his knees, but Vacinay keeps him up by grabbing his shirt collar.

Ghomas is busy taking deep inhales of the smell of the food.

He's so lost in the smell that his eyes are closed, and he's making weird sounds.

What the hell?

Is this guy… no. I don’t want to think about that.

“Of course,” Yamanda awkwardly takes out a purse from her armor.

That thing is definitely not built for pockets.

But do your best, miss, because we don’t have a single cent.

Speaking of, shouldn’t that old head give us damn money?

What's wrong with that man, truly?

Maybe since we're the first reality defenders, there are no customs, and he's just insanely incompetent and has no idea how to treat us?

Honestly, since he tried to control us using that evil manifestation, whatever her name was, I could believe it.

Speaking of her, I'm surprised she's still in Hessien. Does she have an insane sleeping schedule? Or… being out in the open like this would definitely have knights trying to kill her. Since the two share… something, Hessien would also get killed. Unless she literally blows them apart with that mouth blast of hers.

Back to Yamanda. Her purse is… interesting. It's completely black with a ton of stickers all over it. I'm talking about skulls, spiders, and coffin stickers.

She's a goth girl, isn’t she?

“Hmm….” She wears a complex expression as she scans the purse, inspecting the corners and crevices of it with her finger as if looking for a hidden person.

Don’t tell me…

“Vacinay mutters, “You are also poor?”

Instantly, she jolts straight, and it looks like a piece of her died. “No… I just don’t see the value in money!”

I mean, it's one thing to not love money or value it too much, but it's another thing to not have a single coin—despite seeming to have a big shot job.

Hessien is so heartbroken he drops to his knees. “No… this can’t be… She is useless. It must be a trade-off for being so beautiful…”

Ghomas is broken from the aroma trance and steps back in disbelief. It's as if he's betrayed.

“You mean… you brought us here for no reason? No, you set this up!” He points at her accusatorily. “You planned this from the beginning!”

Pure hatred fills his voice. “You knew we were weak to food, and hungry, so you made us happy, gave us hope, DAMN hope, only to tear it down!”

Okay… what the hell does he mean by ‘we’?

If I remember right, he's the only one that ate breakfast!

I want to take him out so bad for that, and for the weird looks we're getting because of his drama ass.

The looks aren't for long, fortunately, with the exception of kids and some adults. People are very busy, good good.

Yamanda steps back, worried. “No! I can explain!”

Ghomas glares at her with so much hatred that if he could kill her that way, her body would have blown up.

I walk up to her and say, “Ignore him. He isn’t on his meds, so he can act a bit unhinged at times. Now… I know you aren’t a bad person. The wonderful president that has treated us very well would not give an incompetent person to help us wander this world.”

I try my absolute best to suppress my hatred for that man and give her a warm smile.

Her face brightens. “Yes! Exactly. Thanks for having trust in me.”

I nod. “Of course, now… what was your plan for bringing us here? I am sure you have a way for us to get fed.”

Ghomas shouts, “She better!”

Shut your damn mouth! Ugh! I want to cuss him out so bad.

Yamanda folds her arms before saying, “Well, yes. I normally get free food here. So… since you all are my students, I am sure that kindness will apply to you all.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

…Is she just a freeloader?”

Vacinay whispers to Hessien, asking, “Is she ******? Or did her brain wire wrongly?”

Hessien rubs his chin, thinking deeply. “Excellent question.”

She appears confused and asks, “What’s the issue?”

Vacinay says, “Well, it’s a business, not a charity. They aren’t just going to give four random people free food, especially since we don’t look like starving homeless kids. Except for Lumine of course, but that’s not the point.”

Please get your ass stung by a nest of bees and be forced to stand up until it’s recovered.

“Oh…” Yamanda is far more confused.

Oh for hell's sake. She's the definition of incompetence! How the hell is she going to train us!?

She then shrugs. “Trust in me.” Miss, I don’t know you.

She enters, which prompts us to look at each other before giving up and following after her.

Ghomas is still insanely angry and looks like he would fight anyone for looking at him for too long.

When we enter, I'm expecting to have to wait a line, but that doesn’t happen.

Did we cut lines?

Oh no no no! Instead… she takes the line consisting of… disabled people.

Oh my god. There's no way this is happening.

This is how she always gets free food?!

You know what, maybe I'm judging too much.

Disabilities aren’t always on the exterior after all. I feel like such trash for thinking such bad stuff about her now...

She turns towards us and waves us to come.

Uh…

Vacinay says, “My moral compass is kinda shitty, and probably the worst of the four of us… but, I don’t think I want to take advantage of the system in place to help disabled people. Sorry for thinking negatively of you before. I just thought you were… umm… made very odd choices.”

How nice of her.

With her hand on her waist, Yamanda asks,” What are you talking about?”

I say, “Well… this line is for the disabled. So…”

“Ah, yeah I know. I think it’s like a hack or trick to get free food. So come!”

"But we don't have a disability," I say.

She shrugs. "So what? Neither do I."

… Ah…

I couldn’t tell if she was too stupid to understand what she was doing or… she was just kinda shitty. No, I think she was just both.

Vacinay blinks a couple of times, baffled.

She then asks, “You… are fully able?”

“Um. Yes…?

Why are you asking me such inconsequential questions?”

Vacinay has a blank expression.

Yamanda moves along with the line, still waiting for us to join her.

The heavy looks of the people from the line are sharp on her and us.

Shitshitshit!

What to do, Lumine, be a piece of shit or get some damn food?! Which is more important?! I mean, you are just joining a line, right? Forget about everything else, it’s just a dang line.

… Yeah, but they are going to be looking at me with such disapproving looks!

Vacinay is talking about morals, what about our reputation as individuals?!

But my stomach…

Hessien has a stoic look as he marches towards Yamanda.

I grab his hand. “Don’t embarrass here.”

He mutters, "I need food…”

Wait a second… I just had a thought.

“Wait a second. I got a plan.”

Hessien eyes me suspiciously, “What’s the success rate?”

“100%,” I say with absolute determination.

Hessien shakes Vacinay, who is still in disbelief.

He tells her, “Lumine got a big brain idea.”

After getting her attention, I call Yamanda, who is definitely annoyed when I request her to get out of the line.

“I don’t understand you all," she says.

“First of all, I am too damn hungry to give a moral lesson, and my hunger means more than anything right now.”

She frowns. “Well…”

I snap my fingers and ask, “Do you have any kind of stat-boosting drugs?”

She nods and taps her side, which makes a black bag suddenly visible. From it, she takes out a syringe.

She then says, “Ah, I only have a skill booster.”

Probably even better.

I take it from her, but before injecting it, I ask, “What are the side effects, and is the needle clean? I don’t want to catch any wild viruses.”

“The only side effect is that the energy drain lasts much longer and feels stronger. Second, yes…”

Please let my biology be strong enough to fend off whatever std this thing has.

I pierce my skin with it; it hurts but not as much as I expect.

I push the plunger, and soon, a weird burning and cooling sensation spreads throughout my shoulder, slowly making its way to my brain.

You know… maybe I should have paid more attention to what she said. She probably has her brain cooked because of taking this drug.

She asks, “So… what’s that for?”

I take in a deep breath. The weird sensation is wrapping itself around my head, and I want to know if my brain is going to explode or not before answering.

Soon after, the sensation settles. With that done, I look far ahead of the line I am in.

“Number 0321? Your meal of one.”

I pay attention to the male waiter who gives the packages to whoever.

“Number 02143. Your meal of two.”

Not good enough.

Yamanda is just tapping her forearm, confused.

While the other three are just looking around, trying their best to act like people aren’t staring at our faces.

Vacinay mutters, “They can’t tell we don’t have money on us, right?”

Other than the stunt Yamanda tried to play, their gazes are also probably because we lack flow patterns.

Then I hear the waiter say the right words.

With a snap of my fingers, I immediately activate time freeze by saying its name internally.

Immediately, the world freezes in place, and I make sure to immediately take advantage of it.

Utilizing my level 10 speed, I dash to the side of the line, avoiding the traffic of people.

One second passes.

I'm not sure about my maximum speed, but it's probably something like 30 MPH.

Not fast enough for my liking!

In that second, I have only cleared one-third of the distance.

My feet hit the ground and I waste no time to make another bound.

Three seconds pass.

Then the fourth second passes, and the world is still frozen!

In that timeframe, I have cleared the distance and immediately swooped the package of 6 meals from the waiter—

The world returns to normal— Time freeze!

Immediately, I reactivate.

I feel something weird. In that instant, it feels like my brain is hit with a hammer, which also siphons all my energy to focus.

Sluggish…

I nearly hit the ground, but I quickly use my hand to stop my fall so that I can grab that package from the waiter.

Immediately, I dash to the door.

My focus feels horrible! Like I missed a day of sleep! But I'm moving fast enough.

I reach Vacinay and the others in four seconds.

Time returns to normal, and with a near-zombie expression, I hold the big package in my hand.

Well, that didn’t play out too well…

“Huh? What the? Did someone steal number #02148 order?!” The waiter shouts.

Oh shit.

Those that were staring at us before notice the package in my hand.

“Wait, what’s that number?” one asks.

Hessien is quick, creating his mist which barely does anything. But! It's the thought that counts!

Yamanda is confused. Then somehow, she has a realization. “Ah… time manipulation.”

With a confident smile, she snaps her finger, “It seems you all would truly be fun to train.”

Huh? Immediately, the crowd disappears along with the building, and we're now on a very huge field guarded by massive black walls.

“What…?”

With a twirl of a finger, she says, “That was one of my skills. A bit disorienting. But incredibly useful in fights or getting away from people.”

Shitty morals, but powerful skills... What a person.

Hmm, I did steal from a family... Damn it, I am a hypocrite.

But, I didn't really get caught, so it wasn't that bad.