I couldn’t believe it—we barely made it to the top two….
My Hail Mary flame show took out Gun and Ash, and solidified our win. Our first round in the Hunter Games and it was a three way tie—my jaw was still on the floor. Team Hawk and Team Owl were going to advance into the second round, which would be broadcasted the same time tomorrow morning….
Seriously, I felt like I was living in the twilight zone right now.
The aftershock of winning second place had me numb. From the moment I saw the final score, I was displaced. I felt like my body was going through the motions, but my mind was out in space somewhere. To be honest, I was shocked that I didn’t pass out. Naomi, Reina, and I had a postgame interview, and I couldn’t remember saying a damn thing.
By the time I snapped out of it, our furry friend, Pachi the red raccoon, had teleported us to the pick-up zone. When we arrived, I was surprised to see Master Hayashi waiting for us. He was wearing a small grin on his face—I bet the man was unable to contain himself, too! His year ones were making a name for themselves out there!
“Congratulations,” Hayashi said. “I saw the entire tournament. You three played well.”
“Oh my, you mean you aren’t going to flunk us?!” Reina teased. “Hell must have frozen over.”
“Thanks, sensei.” I smirked. “We have you to thank for that win.”
“Where are our roommates?” Naomi asked.
“Already at the dojo.”
“You transported them there? I thought relying on you wasn’t supposed to be a recurring thing?”
“It isn’t. But I suppose I can make an exception for your first day.”
“Soooo, you won’t be bringing us back here tomorrow?” Reina cooed, trying to coax him with her sugary tone.
Hayashi smiled. “I’ll be back in the morning to drop you off and pick you up. Don’t celebrate too hard tonight. Remember, the second round starts early.”
It was clear that at this point that Hayashi had a soft spot for Reina. And honestly, I felt like he always had. He’d always been tough on her, especially when she was quick to fire off her mouth at him and talk back. I started thinking that maybe he fought back because he expected better from her. And ever since they had talked that night, I haven’t seen Reina disrespect him like that again.
That being said, I was happy that their relationship was growing. Once Hayashi teleported us back to the dojo, I made a quick call to the fam, who were more than happy about my performance. Mom couldn’t stop hollering through the phone, and Sophie couldn’t stop sobbing like she’d just hit the lottery. Seeing them above themselves motivated me to press on for tomorrow, and I just had a feeling that my team and I were going to crush it again.
We were making waves in the hunter scene.
After talking with my folks, I searched around for Felix, Ash, and Gun while the girls cleaned up. Not to rub our win in their faces, but to boost their spirits up. Luckily, I spotted Gun outside, walking through the garden with his head low and his hands in his pockets.
“Hey!” I called out to him and waved, Gun picking his head up and waving back. As he approached the dojo, I could tell that his smile was forced. “Great job out there,” he said. “Gotta tell ya, I didn’t think you’d make it!”
“Oh ye of little faith!”
He stretched out his hand and I shook it with a firm grip. “Seriously, Nero. We’re happy for you. Sorry again about earlier.”
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“Hey Gun, don’t sweat it. Where’s Ash and Felix?”
His lips went flat, Gun’s eyes dodging to the side. “Ash is somewhere inside but… Felix isn’t taking the loss well….”
I frowned. “Sorry. Well, where is he?”
“Back there,” he said, tilting his head to where he came from. “Taking time to blow off some steam.”
“I guess this is a pretty bad time to talk to him then, huh?”
“Felix doesn’t take losing well; he never has.” He chuckled sheepishly. “He was blaming Ash and I for losing. Mostly Ash. The dude was being a real dick about it, too, making Ash cry. So I had to put him in his place….”
“I didn’t see the VODs. Was Team Hawk defense heavy? You know, before we clashed in the end?”
“You saw their HP bars. We kept them healthy. Bram had a wall that just wouldn’t break. And with Felix barking at us, it made it even harder to figure out a working plan. He didn’t want to hear our suggestions, but god forbid you tell him that’s the reason we didn’t make it.” He pulled out his other hand from his pocket, where I noticed blood on his knuckles. Gun flexed them and chuckled. “You know what Felix hates more than losing? Being told he was wrong. And more than that, being seen as weak.”
So they got into a physical altercation, and Gun came out of the fight as the winner….
Actually, now that he mentioned it, when Felix and I trained, he was anxious to beat me. He would rather suffocate in my fumes than to admit he was weak. I guess that was why he pushed me to fight the way he did—he not only wanted me to push myself and show my true strength, but also to challenge himself against someone with 5 metas….
“Look, I get it. Being in the Hunter Games, fighting for cash like that, it does something to you. But at the same time, you can’t let that money consume you and turn you into something you’re not. He needs to cut himself some slack. We were both fighting against pros. Even if your team made fourth place, he should be proud of himself for even participating in the games. You guys gained experience. When it’s time to sign up again, you’ll have that as an advantage. To be fair, I’m surprised the council even allowed us to join.”
He chuckled. “Probably for publicity and hype. I bet no one counted on your team making it out in the top two.”
I smiled. “You’re right.”
“Even if you barely made it, you guys are going to cap big time on that wave. So milk it out as much as you can. Those sponsors love it when their hunter wins.”
“We advanced!” Reina cried behind us, the bubbly girl already slipping into something nice and casual. She wore a light yellow halter dress with a lace collar, her skirt floating in the spring breeze. Reina ran right into Gun’s arms, the rock star gently grabbing her and swinging her around.
“The future Season 160 Hunter Game champion!” Gun cheered. “Man, I must be the luckiest guy in the world right now. Smart, stunning, and strong,” he complimented Reina.
“You are lucky!” Reina tweeted, Gun giving her a soft peck on her forehead as he settled her down.
“Congrats, Rosebud. I knew you could do it.”
I arched my eyebrow—Rosebud? Now, that’s cute.
“Want to go out and celebrate? My treat? Any restaurant downtown, your choice.”
“Actually, I was thinking about celebrating with Nero?”
Wait, what?
“And Naomi, of course!” she said last minute, correcting herself. “My team!” She turned to me then back to Gun again. “This is our first win, so I want to do something special with them.”
“Of course! We can schedule something for t—”
“I’m not going,” Naomi said as she walked over to us. “Celebrating too early. We haven't won anything yet.”
“We got second prize money, what do you mean?!” I corrected her excitedly.
“Round 1 prize money isn’t anything to celebrate for.”
“Are you delusional?” Reina hissed. “We are rookie hunters who won a round in the Hunter Games, first try! That means access to 70% of sponsor donations, and $20,000 in the tourney bank! If we’d gotten any lower than 2nd place, we wouldn’t have gotten any of that!” She winced and then turned to Gun. “No offense, of course.”
“If this were our eval, we wouldn’t be celebrating. In fact, Hayashi would have called this a failed mission,” Naomi said with a straight face, and I couldn’t tell if she was being serious or sarcastic.
“But this isn’t eval, Naomi,” I reminded her.
“I stand by my decision to not celebrate. If the both of you want to—”
“Jinx it?” Reina cut her off and said with a sly grin, “Boy, Naomi, I’d forgotten you were the superstitious type.”
I smirked. “Truthfully, the both of you are a little nutty.”
Reina shrugged. “All right. We won’t celebrate, then. I guess Gun and I will just have to enjoy brunch together alone downtown.”
“Great. Have fun,” Naomi said as she turned back around to head to the dojo, until I grabbed her wrist gently and stopped her.
“And we’ll have a picnic by the river,” I said, rendering Naomi speechless. “It’s not celebrating. I promise!”
“A picnic?” Reina reiterated under her voice. “Just the two of you?”
“That is, if Naomi is down for it?”
“Um…” Naomi hesitated for a moment. Then she looked up to me and gave me a short nod. “Okay.”