Chapter 146 - Incident At The Canteen (1/2)
”Hehe!”
Suddenly, from the seat on the other side of the table, precisely in front of Hei, a young man laughed at the sincere comments of the three in front of him.
”Is there anything funny in our comments?” Leon asked resentfully. Evidently, he didn't like that he had been made fun of in front of the two new arrivals. Or was it because that person was laughing at Hei and Lian as well as at him?
The young man, still with a smile printed on his face, said no with his head. He had blond hair long up until his shoulders, parted in the center with a hairstyle towards the sides. In the front, a fringe protruded, which descended downwards, reaching just above the eyebrows. He had light-blue eyes similar to the color of the sky, and like the sky itself had a peculiar clarity in his gaze. He was tall, although not like Hei or Leon, he was rather slender, which accentuated that feeling of clarity.
Beside him, there was another young man. He had short orange hair that wasn't combed but ruffled as if he had just woken up. His orange eyes, which were almost entirely half-closed, also seemed to convey that sensation. It appeared as if he was looking at something very distant rather than reality before him. And it was the latter who answered for his blond-haired companion.
”You must excuse him. It wasn't his intention to offend you or make fun of you.” The orange-haired young man's voice was sweet and bright as if he was whispering into the ears of those who were listening. Yet he had used a low tone of voice that was barely noticeable.
This pair of young martial artists alerted Hei. Since they were sitting at the table with them on the ground floor, they had to be first-year students, that is, future fellow students of Hei and Lian.
”It's like he says, sorry. It's just that I got excited when I heard your compliments. You must know that it was I who prepared that spaghetti while another made the broth. I introduce myself, my name is Omura Haruno, but you can call me just with Haruno. I'm a martial artist chef.”
Omura Haruno, this was the name of the young man who laughed at Hei and the others' comments. Unexpectedly it was the martial artist chef who had cooked the spaghetti in the soup that Hei and Lian had tasted. It was, therefore, reasonable that he had felt amused by such positive comments. After all, who wouldn't have been happy to hear praise for the fruit of their work?
”My name is Ige Mareo instead, but you can call me Mareo. I am a martial artist musician.” Haruno's companion, who had defended him earlier, introduced himself. Ige Mareo, this was his name.
Upon hearing this, Hei was amazed. He didn't expect to immediately meet someone who was part of those types of martial artists. Since they didn't seem to have any bad intentions, Hei made introductions for him and Lian.
”My name is Hei while she is Lian. We just signed up today.” Hei replied. The young blue-haired woman bowed her head as a sign of greeting to the two martial artists on the other side of the table.
”My name is Leon, nice to meet you, Haruno, Mareo.” Leon's initial annoyance seemed to have subsided, so he returned to his usual friendly attitude.
After that brief exchange of introductions, the five of them returned to focus on their meal. There was a bit of embarrassment in the air since they didn't know how to start a conversation between them. So they were silent for some time when suddenly there was a noise of something being broken. Turning their heads, they could see in the table behind them a young man with short fire red hair standing while at his feet, there was a ceramic bowl with food inside. It was the soup Hei and Lian had tasted.
”Who the fuck is that prepared this? It sucks. The soup is good, but with this spaghetti, it is inedible. Who is that trash who prepared them?”
The voice of that young man with fiery red hair and very light complexion echoed on the first floor of the canteen. However, nobody seemed to give us much importance. Even those on the upper floors weren't interested and didn't look at what was going on. However, not everyone remained impassive. Haruno, as he was the martial artist chef who had cooked that spaghetti, couldn't help but stand up. For a martial artist chef, what they cooked was the sublimation of their efforts. Each of the dishes they prepared carried with them the pride of the chef who had cooked it.
”It was I who prepared it. You said the spaghetti are inedible. I would like to know what makes you think so.”
Haruno's voice was calm, but you could see the anger contained in seeing his creation thrown on the ground like garbage. At his side, Mareo seemed to have intentions to calm him down but refrained from doing so. As a musician, he could understand the frustration of seeing his efforts and dedication treated like waste paper.
The fire red-haired young man turned his head to look at Haruno, and when he saw him, he seemed to recognize him. Then he made a malicious grin as if he had found something fun to play with.
”Now, I understand. So it was you. Well, I'm not surprised that a shitty homosexual like you produced shitty food. Next time refrain from cooking your lousy shit. If you really want to cook, I guess your boyfriend is willing to eat that stuff. You can also invite your other gay friends. Don't you like to get together to have orgies like dogs in heat?”
When listening to the words of the fiery red-haired young man, Haruno's face darkened as he clenched his fists with force. His spirit power seemed on the verge of being activated when Mareo reached out to grab Haruno's. He said no with his head and invited him to sit down. However, Hei could see Mareo's other hand clenched in a fist while visibly trembling with anger. The 'boyfriend' the young red-haired boy spoke of was none other than Mareo himself.
”What's up? Are you so embarrassed about revealing your secret to everyone that you have lost your tongue? Your boyfriend is right, sit down and don't say a word. I don't even understand how they could accept you two. Those of your race are just a disease and disgust for the eyes.”
As these offensive words continued, the people around had been slowly conquered by curiosity. Some shared the stance of the fire red-haired young man and didn't see well these relationships, both romantic and sexual, between members of the same gender. Many people regarded these relationships as a kind of disease that needed to be eradicated. But these people were just a minority of the empire inhabitants and the people on the canteen's ground floor.
However, the rest of the students, despite not sharing this line of thought, certainly wouldn't have come forward to protect that poor unfortunate couple. This was a society made up of martial artists; the one who had the strength was also the one who had the last word. If something wasn't right for you, you had to use your fists and beat your opponent until he gave up.
Haruno certainly wanted to come forward, but he was a martial artist chef. His fighting skills were minimal despite being a spirit soldier. He certainly couldn't compete with an attacking martial artist. The same was true of Mareo, but there was another reason why he had stopped Haruno from attacking.
”What does being homosexual have to do with belonging to another race? Aren't they human? Don't they have two hands, two eyes, a heart? How should they be different from you?”
While the fire red-haired young man was enjoying that moment, a voice interrupted the strange silence that dwelled in the canteen. All the various spectators, who thought the show was over, looked amazed in the direction of the voice. So they noticed a young man with brown skin and pitch-black hair sitting right in front of the accused couple. The person who spoke was Hei.
”Eh?! What the fuck? Did I correctly hear what you said? How dare you compare me to garbage like them? Turn around and have the courage to say it to my face.”
The fire red-haired young man ordered Hei to turn as he made more and more noise. His grin vanished from his face as a disgruntled expression formed on his face. Hei didn't reply immediately but finished taking a sip of water and wiping his mouth. Then he stood up. He motioned for Lian and Leon to stay there and advanced towards the fire red-haired young man. Once he arrived in front of him, he knelt down.
The fire red-haired young man thought Hei wanted to fight, but when he saw him kneeling, he laughed heartily. ”Yes, good. I see you have common sense. You'd better apologize properly, or it will be bad for you.”