[Havok, Piasu, Ryomania, 12:55 PM, May 7th, Tuesday 2025]
After about ten more annoying minutes, we arrived at the butcher shop.
Amir pulled the car over and glanced back at us.
"Woo... You kids are fun, especially you, ponytails."
"Gee, thanks, G. You've got any more gum?"
"No! Focus, Jack. We thank you, sir, for uh... letting us go. Or whatever the heck this was. How much is the fare?"
"It's free, you're nice boys... I'll keep an eye out around here for ya and all that. Now get the hell outta here!" He chuckled and pointed to the butcher shop, Hamloins.
We got out of the car. With a nod and a wave he drove away, almost crashing into another car before narrowly swerving out of the way.
"Wow... It looks so much crappier than I remember. Cool, huh?"
I turned around to look at the shop. It looked cheap or abandoned. Broken windows, cobwebs. Weird.
"Shut up, let's just get inside before anyone sees us."
"You're lucky to get a mask, but man, this relic stuff sure is nifty!"
"More like, creepy."
We then stepped inside Hamloins.
The smell was the first thing that hit me, then the lights.
"Wow... It's so old and gross. Cool, huh?"
Compared to the gloomy sky of Havok, this place had a different atmosphere.
"Hey, wait, aren't we broke?"
"Nah, Erika slipped at least fifty dracos when I left."
I didn't question it.
The mask slid back down my torso, re-forming into a bat under my t-shirt and sticking to the underside of it.
It must be a part of Erika's Holiness or the relic itself — almost like it could read my thoughts, understand what had to be done, I thought to myself.
"Hey kids! Stop starin', either buy sum' or get out a'ere!"
My eyes snapped up to look at the man standing at the register. He pulled me out of my little thought tornado.
"Yes! Hello! I'd like at least 3 kilograms of prime cut… Beef? Rib? For steak. Please?"
The butcher eyed us with one squinting eye, his lazy gaze shifting.
"Tsk... Comin' right up, kid."
He disappeared into the back, leaving me alone with my thoughts, Jack, and the only other customer who was leaning against the counter.
He had short black hair streaked with yellow, hazel eyes, freckles scattered across his nose and cheeks. He wore a leather jacket similar to Jack's with a yellow t-shirt underneath, paired with black denim jeans.
Jack leaned in, whispering to me and pointing towards the guy.
"Dude, he has the same style as me... And look at that dragon tattoo on his neck! That's awesome!"
Dragon tattoo. That didn't sound good, but I didn't put the pieces together fully.
The stranger had headphones in, he bobbed his head to some beat only he could hear. His eyes were closed. Although the headphones had no headband — it was just the earcups. His foot tapped impatiently on the ground, arms crossed over the counter, looking like he had the world figured out.
"Hm... What brings you here? Are you two far from home?"
I turned towards him, hands on my hips.
"I'm sorry, do I know you? You look familiar... You have a similar style to my friend."
"Yeah! It's cool!"
The stranger pulled the earcups down, putting them in his pockets, eyes still closed, though his head never stopped swaying to the music in his mind.
"Maybe, maybe not... I've just gotten back to Havok after a long vacation. But I do feel pretty charming if I do say so myself. It's not nice to ignore someone's question though, buddy. And to answer yours? Maybe we do know each other... if not, we will."
He finally opened his eyes and looked at us.
His eyes sent a shiver down my spine. The floor vibrated beneath us, as if a small earthquake had hit the shop.
"What—"
He turned abruptly, though, as the butcher returned, carrying a large chunk of mutton. The vibrations seemed to stop.
"What the heck? Was that an earthquake...?" Jack whispered in my ear, his arm hanging around my shoulder.
"Alright, here you go... Enjoy your day." The butcher sliced the meat, then bagged it before handing it off to the stranger.
As he turned to leave, I caught a glimpse of the tattoo on his neck — a dragon wearing headphones, with a golden 'S' etched into its torso.
"Bye bye, I'm sure we'll see each other again soon~" he said as he walked out the door, in a melodic voice.
This guy was with them.
I wanted to ask more, but the stranger was already gone. The butcher snapped his cleaver against the counter, drawing my attention.
"Kid! Stop day-dreamin'! I cut you 3 kilos of prime beef, over here. That'll be 22.38 Dracos."
Jack pulled the money out of his pocket and put it on the counter. There were about five strange-looking coins.
"Dracos, dracos... I've always liked the fire emblems on them. I think they symbolize the power the monarchy held over Ryomania — dude! Wait! I just realized how many history classes you've missed... Did you know that Merlin The Magnificent once bench-pressed a mountain?!"
"Uh... Yeah, yeah... Shut up for a sec — here you go, sir."
Ignoring Jack's antics to my left, I paid him, grabbed the meat — tightly packed in a plastic bag — and we left the butchery.
"Okay, cool! Didn't expect it to be that easy."
"Just shut up, you'll draw attention to ourselves."
As we walked back through the streets, my thoughts lingered on the encounter with the stranger. The tattoo and the symbol — the 'S'. I recognized them, but the pieces didn't quite fit together yet.
The mask returned to my face, creeping up my neck. The cold air sent a shiver through me, but it wasn't from the weather. It was something else, something stirring deep inside.
"Hey... Did I ever take walks? Or talk to anyone? Before all of this."
"Meh, sorta, but it was mostly just us. You were also quiet, strong... Retrospective? No, wait, introspective! Yeah. That's the word. I mean — Jasmine did a lot of talking for you back in the day, so that's something..."
My eyes widened as I turned to him.
"Jack. About Jasmine—"
"It's fine. You told me in the gym, plus I technically found out when me, Cathy, and Amelia were fighting toilets earlier."
"You... You what?"
Jack chuckled and waved his hand dismissively.
"It's fine, I'm sure you can ask her about it. Nah, man, I get it. The Boss took her, right? So, we go after him. We bite back. Simple enough."
"If only it were that easy. Everything has changed... Ah, what have we done?"
"Yeah... You're right, but we're gonna beat him up anyway! And if you don't, then I will!" He slapped my shoulder, cackling.
I couldn't help but smile back at him through the mask.
The shiver inside me felt amazing. Not in a joyful sense. Not in a melancholic one either. More like stepping back into the whole wide world — a world that I was only just beginning to understand.
Again.