It was supposed to be a nice, simple picnic by the river….

Felix got me so pent up that I couldn’t even think straight. I didn’t care how pissed off he was about losing the tournament, that gave him no right to attack Naomi like that, or kill the only clue we could have had about Compound 7. That mission belonged to both teams, and all it took was one pessimistic douchebag to ruin it for us.

As soon as Felix killed him, he walked off. I went off too and told Hayashi about the entire thing, to which he told me to ignore it. ‘Focus on the tournament. I will report everything to the organization accordingly,’ he said, and I swear, it felt like he was brushing the whole incident off. Until I realized that he was trying to keep my head in the game. I couldn’t let this bother me. Even so, I wanted to know more about that guy, and what he actually was.

Hayashi couldn’t tell me. He had no idea. I was hoping for theories at the very least, but he was stumped, too. But one thing was for sure, he couldn’t categorize him as a flesh eater.

So that could mean that Felix killed a human back there….

Naomi had crashed into a tree, but she bounced back up. For a petite girl, she had a pretty good recovery time. It seemed like pain rolled off of her, Naomi the most resilient hunter I knew. After a few hours of cooling off and getting my head back together with training, she suggested meditation, and I joined her in a session.

Yeah, I couldn’t get into it.

I tried to clear my head the best I could, but with another round in a few hours, Naomi was asking for mission impossible here. Thirty minutes of lotus style sitting and deep breathing was all I could take, but Naomi appreciated that I stayed the entire session. Just as we were about to head back to the dojo from the greenhouse, Felix showed up at the door.

“Naomi, Nero,” he said almost timidly. “I was looking all over the place for you two.”

“Felix,” I said flatly.

“Sorry. I overreacted earlier.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Naomi said as she tucked her yoga mat under her arm.

“Hey, ah, I know I messed up, and there’s no way I could take back what I did or said. It’s just, I saw an opportunity to redeem myself and I just had to jump on it. There's just so much pressure and… I’m tired of failing. It’s… it’s driving me nuts!” he vented, tightening his fingers as he gestured frustration. “Being in that arena was important to me. And there’s no telling when I’ll get the chance to go back again. I thought at the very least, we’d make it past round one but… there was just so much pressure in performing perfectly, that I—” He paused. “These expectations… my dreams….” He sighed. “Sorry, I’m ranting.” Felix looked up to me, and when I met his helpless gaze, I felt sorry for him. “I didn’t come here to give you excuses.”

“Felix, you’re too much of a perfectionist,” I admitted to him. “Any sign of flaws, and you break down mentally. It’s not healthy. You need to give yourself time to make mistakes and learn from them. You can’t control everything, so just let go and focus on improving over time. That’s all you can do.”

“Yeah,” he chuckled sheepishly. “Big character flaw, huh? Being a perfectionist. I mean, I have my reasons, but there’s no justifying what I did. I’m sorry.” He paused. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“None of us are perfect, and everyone has their breaking point. It was a lot to process. Just try not to do it again.”

He stared at me, then Naomi.

“Yeah, okay.” She shrugged.

“So, we cool?” he asked.

“Yeah, we’re cool,” I said.

“Good.” He grinned.

“We didn’t tell Hayashi more than he needed to know about the incident,” I said, implying that I left out the part where he snapped at her.

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“You… didn’t have to—”

Naomi shook her head. “It’s alright. I wasn’t helping, either.”

“What did Hayashi say about the monster?”

“That he pr—”

“Nothing,” I cut Naomi off. Felix was feeling shitty as it was. He didn’t need to hear that he could have potentially murdered a human.

Felix looked at the both of us. “Nothing? Or something?”

“That he was probably associated with the case, but we couldn’t be sure until we gathered more intel.”

“I’m sorry, I should have kept my cool.”

“Quit apologizing, would you?” Naomi said. “It’s over. Let’s move on, and do things differently.”

I smirked. “You should try meditating with Naomi!”

Naomi elbowed me in the arm. “See? Very therapeutic!”

Felix chuckled. “You two make a fun couple.”

I choked.

“What?” Naomi whispered as her eyes went big. “No, n-ugh… we… aren’t a thing….”

Felix flashed us a cheesy grin. “Wow, I’m fumbling hard today, aren’t I? I apologize for that. Anyway, I heard that Reina is cooking dinner for us.”

I jumped. “HERE!?”

“Heh, yeah. Back in the dojo. Gun has been teaching her a few things.”

“But Gun’s not a master in the kitchen, either,” Naomi said bluntly.

Felix shrugged. “Well, between all of us, he is the best we have.”

“I guess beggars can’t be choosers…” Naomi commented.

Still, I was afraid of what awaited us back in the dojo. Reina in the kitchen—the group forbade her to test her culinary prowess, or lack thereof. Flashbacks of a breakfast disaster flooded my mind. She tried to make pancakes, but they ended up resembling black holes on the stove top.

As we walked back to the dojo, I took a breath of relief, noticing that there wasn’t any smoke coughing out from the windows. That was a good sign, so far so good. Naomi dropped her meditation stuff in our bedroom, and then joined Felix and I in the hallway. He suggested we walk in together, and when we did, my jaw nearly dropped to the floor….

“Surprise!” Reina beamed, her arms in the air as she welcomed us with a delightful smile. She had a tall chef’s hat on and an apron, Gun standing right behind her as he finished decorating the table.

The spread was unbelievable, and the smell in the kitchen and the eating area was downright mouthwatering….

“I made us dinner! Teriyaki salmon, rice, some vegetables,” she said, pointing items out on the table. “Tossed green salad with a creamy dressing, dumpling soup, glazed duck, Agedashi tofu, and a plate of spicy chicken katsu. Hayashi even gave us some plum wine in the back of his pantry that we could polish off!” she added, Gun holding the bottle behind her like a child holding a present on Christmas morning.

“Reina, what are you…?” I started to ask, but she held up a finger to her lips.

“Now before you say anything, don’t worry. I followed Gun’s instructions and the recipes we found online to the letter. It’s good food, I promise!”

I smiled. “Alright. I’m hungry enough to try your meal. But if I get food poisoning, I’m blaming you both.”

Gun snorted. “Don’t worry, she’s been practicing all day. Turns out all she needed was a great teacher,” he whispered along her neck, nuzzling against her.

A blush crept up Reina’s cheeks as she giggled, and she playfully swatted Gun’s arm. “Stop it, you’ll make me blush!”

“I’m not celebrating,” Naomi said.

I turned to the side and looked at her. Okay, so maybe she was superstitious after all, but I insisted. “Naomi, this is one dinner you can’t back out on.”

“This is clearly a meal to celebrate our win at the tournament.”

“Okay, so what if it is?” Reina asked.

“I thought you and Gun were going to dine alone?”

“We were, but then I thought about something better. Instead of going to a restaurant, we went grocery shopping.”

“Please, share a meal with us, Naomi,” Gun begged. “This is something to party about. We might not have made it, but the three of you did. And, we’d like it if you could share this moment with us.”

Naomi didn’t say anything. She stayed silent for a few seconds as she stared at the table, then at Gun, then back to the table. And finally, she looked at me, and I begged, “Just this once.”

She sighed. “If it’ll stop all of you from groaning and whining about it.”

“Great!” Gun chimed. “Hayashi should be joining us shortly.” Just as Gun said that, Felix and Naomi took their seats. I followed them, until I heard whimpering behind me. Whimpering and soft murmuring…

I walked over to the collapsible door to the small closet in the kitchen, and when I opened it, I saw Ash curled up on the floor in the fetal position.

“Ash?”

“F-fu-ffff-ah—f-fu…”

“Don’t mind the cat girl. She’s being overdramatic…” Reina said, rolling her eyes as she served Gun a drink. “I told her we don’t eat until everyone is here, and she broke down into a stuttering fit before she lost all sense of herself. I swear, she refused to leave the kitchen.”

“Oh Ash,” I cooed, crouching over to her. “I saw you had a bowl of ramen just two hours ago,” I said softly, stroking her shoulder to ease those hunger pains.

“I’m starved,” Hayashi said from behind me, and when I turned around, I noticed that he was wearing some type of festive feathery hat.

“Looks like everyone’s here,” Gun said, and before I could turn around and invite Ash to the table, she tackled me, the famished cat girl walking over me like a dirty floor mat.

She nearly knocked over Hayashi as she flew to the buffet of food, and all I could do was sit there and smile.

This marked the first night we actually ate like a family. After a big competitive fight, sore muscles and bruised egos, it was time to put our worries aside and indulge in camaraderie and good food.