16TH GEAR - I WILL NEVER GO TO A FANCY RESTAURANT AGAIN
It took about an hour until Fluonessia and Ericka finally exited the Magical Tailor shop. They left me at the entrance like a servant dog, waited for almost sixty minutes, and they did not even bother to notice me. Instead, they kept on walking while carrying their shopping bags. I just tailed them wordlessly as I try to eavesdrop.
“The tailor said that our Speedmage suits will be ready in two weeks,” Ericka said.
“I can’t wait! I’m so excited to try it out in a match!” Fluonessia pumped her fists.
“Yours is really adorable, Fluonessia. I think you might attract a cute boyfriend once you wear it!” Ericka smiled.
“R-Really!? W-Well, yours look more elegant and sexy! I’m pretty sure you will be the most popular person in the academy!” Fluonessia said.
I heard yesterday that President Ericka wanted to change her Speedmage Suit, so she went with Fluonessia to the Magical Tailor. Maybe her old Speedmage Suit does not fit anymore, which explains why she is wary of me hearing her measurements. Anyway, I’m curious about what their suits will be, based on both of their descriptions. Fluonessia and Ericka are real beauties, so I’m excited to see how they will look like full-fledged Speedmages.
Suddenly, Ericka finally turned to me and acknowledged my existence.
“You better not think dirty thoughts about us, coach.”
“Yes, yes,” I said in an uncaring manner.
“Ah!” Fluonessia gasped. “We almost forgot about the coach’s outfit!”
“Oh, you’re right!” Ericka also exclaimed as she looked at one of her shopping bags.
My outfit? I thought there was an old varsity jacket that has the Merry Knights logo in it back in the abandoned hospital- I mean, our club building. Cruzo even told me that I will wear those things since our budget is cut to cater to our Speedmages’ equipment and attire. Coaches do not need Speedmage Suits anyway.
“Here it is!” Ericka had this wide smile on her face. She presented me with a small rectangular box.
“Come on! Open it, Jonathan!” Fluonessia hopped like an excited pup.
“Okay…” I took the box and my fingers carefully opened the lid. I thought at first that it was some kind of magic phone but then realized that what was inside is a pair of round glasses.
“Tada!” Fluonessia cheered.
“That is Mystic Glasses.” Ericka held her hips proud. “As our coach, you will need to observe mana traces coming from us and our opponents. It will also help you monitor our magical capacities as a Speedmage.”
“That’s right!” Fluonessia nodded.
To explain further, a normal human eye can only perceive magical specks of dust unleashed by the mages whenever they cast a spell. With Mystic Glasses, we can track the mana traces inside their body and see their current mana pool. An intermediate magus can see these mana traces without any aid, but I will need these glasses to do it since I'm magicless.
“Try it!” Fluonessia said.
I wordlessly put on the glasses, and my view of the world changed. It’s like seeing the surroundings in negative, but instead of black and white, it was filled with rainbow colors that a normal eye could not perceive. It’s like I’m seeing flavors, smells, and emotions in the air.
“Pffft!” Ericka covered her laugh by covering her mouth.
“Hey, what’s so funny?” I asked.
“Hey, coach! Say some nerdy stuff!” Ericka said in a mocking deep voice, then chuckled. “Pffft!”
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“You just bought this to make fun of me!” I cried.
“N-No! It looks cool on you, Jonathan!” Fluonessia pumped her fists again, and her honest blue eyes stared at me. Her cheeks turned rosy as she stared at my glasses.
“S-Shut up!” I blushed in embarrassment. I grabbed the glasses, ready to take them off.
“Fluonessia’s right. It looks good on you.” Ericka said as she finally stopped laughing. She was wiping her tears though, but she still sounded teasing. “You should be honored because Fluonessia’s the one who personally picked that design.”
“You did?” I turned to the pink idiot.
“Y-Yes. I-I just thought that big rounded eyeglasses would fit for a thoughtful and smart person like you.” Fluonessia said as she embarrassingly scratched her head.
I kept the glasses on my face then I turned to the side to hide my embarrassment.
“Since you even did some trouble to pick this for me, I’ll keep it.”
“Awesome!” Fluonessia beamed an innocent smile.
<>
It’s early afternoon now, and we haven’t even gotten a meal so we decided to have lunch. Cruzo informed our president that he will be meeting us in a nearby fancy Western-style restaurant so we agreed to go there.
Cruzo was already sitting at a table for four, and all of us sat in our respective seats. I noticed that our panda man sophomore looked defeated.
“So how was the burrito-eating contest?” Ericka asked.
“Terrible. I was beaten by a beautiful eastern girl. At first, I thought she was just a ditzy innocent girl like Fluonessia, but I was surprised that she ate all those burritos fast! I haven’t even finished my first burrito!” Cruzo said as he slapped his bouncy stomach.
“Well, at least you’re still hungry to join us for lunch.” Ericka smiled as she opened up the menu on the table. “So what are you guys ordering?”
Fluonessia and I opened the menu and we were baffled! The entire list of meals is written as random letters inputted on a keyboard! I do not know if these are western, eastern, northern, or southern languages! I don’t even know how to pronounce any of these!
To make the pressure on us worse, the waiter approached our table and asked for our orders!
“How may I help you, ladies and gentlemen?” The waiter even speaks in classy italics.
“I will be ordering Boeuf Bourguignon with Borcht.” Cruzo said.
“Excellent choice, sir.” The waiter said. He asked Ericka next. “How about you, mademoiselle?”
“I would like a Carpaccio as an appetizer and Prosciutto di Parma as my main course,” Ericka said.
“Absolutely.” The waiter said. Then he finally turned to Fluonessia with his notes and pen ready to write.
“Ah! M-Me?” Fluonessia shrieked and her eyes opened wide in shock. She was nervously shaking as she read down the menu. “Um, I-I w-would like a M-Milleeef-ffuele- Eeek!”
Fluonessia bit her tongue for the last syllable. Then she turned to the puzzled waiter and scratched her head.
“Tahahaha! I’m such a failure that I don’t know how to read it!”
“...”
“...”
“One Mille-Feuille. Right away, madamoiselle!” The waiter said as he wrote the order on his notepad.
“Phew.” Fluonessia touched her chest and sighed.
“How about you, sir?” The waiter finally asked me.
I’m not gonna trouble myself with pronouncing gibberish words. I’ll just do the easy route.
“I’m gonna order the best seller,” I said confidently.
“There are at least ten dishes for our best seller. Which one, sir?”
“Uh… I want the beef one?”
“My apologies sir, I don’t know which one is.”
“Are there any codes for the meals? I’ll just order whatever 001 is.”
“Sorry sir, we have no code for the meals. If you can say the name of the meal out loud, I can certainly get your order.”
At this time, my sweat is running down like waterfalls. I do not want to embarrass myself with my clubmates, but they are looking at me. Cruzo and Ericka looked clueless, but Fluonessia is different. Her sapphire eyes silently say, “You can do it, Jonathan!”. She even nodded to me.
I looked at the menu and read whatever the first word my eye locked onto.
“I-I would like a c-chaaatee-eaub-bri-iand.”
“...”
“...”
There was a long silence between me and the waiter. My heart thumped for those moments, it is as if it was the fight of my life!
“...Absolutely sir, I’ll be right back with your order.” The waiter said.
I sighed. Finally, I ordered a gibberish meal.
Or so I thought. The waiter immediately went back to me.
“I’m sorry sir, we are out of stock for Chateaubriand.”
“Fuck!” I shouted out loud. Honestly, I wanted to cry out of frustration.
“Maybe you would like the Western Beef Sausages?” Cruzo finally helped me out. He pointed at the very median of the menu that is only readable for normal human beings.
“R-Right. I’ll have the Western Beef Sausages.” I repeated Cruzo.
“Okay, sir. We will be back in a jiffy with your orders.” The waiter said.
Cruzo beamed a smile with a thumbs up, and I returned the same, albeit my smile is forced. I’m actually saved by the annoying panda man when I least expected it.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
Ericka tapped her glass with a fork to get our attention, and then cleared her voice.
“Ahem! As the President of Merry Knights Speedmage Guild, I am happy that we are all gathered here. Let this lunch be the start of our trust in one another, as fellow students, as fellow Speed Battle enthusiasts, and as fellow clubmates. I will gladly say that thanks to our two new members, the Merry Knights will not be disbanded.”
“Alright!” Cruzo clapped.
“Awesome!” Fluonessia cheered.
Ericka then turned to me with a respectable smile. Her crimson violet eyes are giving me a gaze of utmost expectation.
“Well then. What’s our game plan for this school year, coach?”