"Would you like to come to my wing as a Disciple? I mean... do you want to be my Disciple?"
The sudden invitation made Satoshi do a double take. Glancing around, he initially thought that Magnus Carter was actually pranking him. But sensing that there was no one around except for the two of them, he was led to believe that Magnus Carter was sincere when he asked him to become his Disciple.
"Eh, me? Why me?" Satoshi pointed at himself, surprised. The last thing he expected was for the renowned strongest Manager to invite him under his wing.
"You're talented enough, and you've got limitless potential. You'll grow even faster under my wing. Adding to that, I also have a lot of formidable Disciples under my wing. Don't you want to fight them?" Magnus offered, extending his hand for a handshake since he was one hundred percent sure that Satoshi would accept his offer.
"I uh..." Satoshi looked away. Even though he may look indecisive right now, he never actually considered joining hands with Magnus Carter.
Quite frankly, it didn't matter to Satoshi. He had already accepted Bucky Barnes as his master and that's final. Even if someone approaches him with the intent of recruiting him, there was no way he'd join.
The only reason why he was contemplating his words was that he didn't want to offend Magnus Carter. Hence, he wanted to reject him as respectfully as possible.
"I'm sorry, Magnus-san, but I'd have to decline. I want to remain under Bucky Barnes." Satoshi bowed his head as he apologetically rejected Magnus's offer. To him, this was the most effective way of rejection he could think of.
In response, Magnus's brows twitched. He couldn't believe that a mere human rejected his once-in-a-lifetime offer! If any, he felt a modicum of annoyance since this was the first time it happened to me.
As someone who stood at the peak, Magnus would always get his way no matter what. The other Managers didn't even come close to his success, that's why all they could do was bask in his shadow as he took all the advantages.
Whenever he finds someone who could be a fine addition to his already growing faction of Disciples, he would recruit him or her in a snap of a finger. And ever since he had done this dirty trick, not one Disciple had rejected him. It was simply ridiculous to reject someone like him.
"I-I see. I guess this recruitment came as a surprise, right? Don't worry, you don't have to give an immediate answer. Just take your time and talk to me when you're ready to be my Disciple." Magnus Carter rubbed the bottom of his nose as he brushed off Satoshi's direct rejection.
Since he simply couldn't accept it, he decided to just ignore what Satoshi just said, and instead give him the opportunity to think it over a little bit more. Surely, this plan would work, right? No one in their right mind would reject such an open-ended closure, right?
"I'm sorry, Magnus-san. I don't have to think about it. I'll stay as Bucky Barnes's Disciple. Nevertheless, I'm grateful for your generous offer, Magnus-san." Satoshi mumbled to himself as he turned around. He was well aware that Magnus would just brush off what he said just now so before Magnus could say anything, Satoshi excused himself without saying another word.
"Please, Satoshi, do reconsider it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance." Magnus forced a smile on his face. He was clearly annoyed by the unfolding events which didn't go in his favor.
Tight-lipped, Satoshi turned around, bowed his head, and proceeded to walk away. He had said his bit in the matter, and there was no need for him to clarify himself.
...
A couple of minutes later,
The doors to the cafeteria opened, and Satoshi saw everyone gathered at one table. With a wave of greeting, Satoshi assumed the free seat which was by the end of the table. Everyone reserved that seat for him since they were expecting him to join them for dinner. To be fair, Satoshi missed out on two meals that day.
After all, he had to stay in the infirmary for the entire day just so he could recuperate a bit.
"Satoshi!" Mitsuka called out, waving her hand as everyone else did the same. "Are you feeling better now?"
Honestly, all of Satoshi's muscles felt a little bit sore, it's just that he had to move them a little bit so they won't stiffen by tomorrow. With every movement he did, he felt like his muscles were tearing apart.
More than anything though, Satoshi was famished, so he overlooked his muscle aches and just grabbed some food. He particularly ate his favorite, hamburg steak, surprised that the cafeteria never runs out of food. There were plenty of Disciples and more than a dozen Managers. And yet, the cafeteria could keep up with the demand.
"In any case, we still have no idea what your superpower was, but it is certainly powerful. You might even rival Magnus Carter's Disciples or something." Gran commented, swinging his fork around to prove his point.
"Even if we weren't there, I'm pretty sure Satoshi would've been able to survive that test all throughout." Hansel also agreed with what Gran said.
"You're right, we're most certainly not needed. But then again, Satoshi opted to work together with us, going the extra mile just so we could survive as well." The rumored strongest Disciple spoke as he looked at Satoshi with a serious expression on his face. Leaning back, he decided to question Satoshi's motives since there really was no merit in helping all of them.
"So, what were your motives in helping us? Why did you decide to help us even when you could've just cleared the entire survival test by yourself?" He asked. This time, he leaned forward as he clasped both his hands in front of him.
"Wait, before anything... can't you introduce yourself first? We've been eating together for three meals now and we still have no idea what your name is." This time, it was Gretel who spoke, waving her hand as if to brush off what the Disciple just said.
"Pardon my late introduction... I'm not really very good at socializing so I've got the friendship steps mixed up." Arghus heaved a sigh before he bowed his head in an apologetic manner. Before anyone could say anything, he introduced himself. "I'm Arghus Melodica, the strongest superhero in our world... but now that I've come here for training, I realized that I was just a frog in the well."
"Not really, you're one of the strongest Disciples there is. I mean, if you compared some of us to you, you know," Gran Expatrio responded. "Now, back to your question, you were asking Satoshi something, right?"
Meanwhile, Satoshi wasn't really paying attention to all of them. He was just enjoying his hamburg steak, hastily finishing up the food on his plate so he could get seconds.
"Let me ask again," Arghus cleared his throat.
Just then, Satoshi stood up, causing everyone to flinch and put their guards up since he stood up so suddenly. Confused, Satoshi turned his head, and he realized that they were actually talking to him. Without saying another word, he pointed at his empty plate, gesturing that he was going to get more food.
"..."
"..."
When Satoshi returned to his table, Arghus once again asked the question. To be fair, everyone was kind of curious as to why Satoshi decided to help them out.
"Ah, that? It was part of the test. We had to work together in order to pull through. It's all part of the test." Satoshi calmly explained as he ate another hamburg in one bite. "I wouldn't have been able to do it without you. There was no way I could've been able to defend the entire circle."
It was clear that Satoshi was putting them up on a pedestal. After all, they only needed to defend a small portion. Now that Satoshi put it that way, though, it took every being of Satoshi to defend his side, and if they weren't there, the small gap would've made all the difference in whether they survived or not.
In a way, Satoshi spoke the truth. The ten of them worked hard to survive and they managed to pass.
"I see. I guess I was just reading too much into things. I thought you want something from us." Arghus said as he relaxed a little bit. "Thank you for helping us though, we wouldn't have been able to survive without you."
"Same here," Satoshi said, raising his glass of water before he drank it in one gulp. "In any case, I'll be looking forward to working with you when we defeat the World Eater."
"Ou, we'll be in your care." Himuro said, also raising his glass of water.
While all of that were happening, the third support unit who was with Hansel and Gretel fidgeted on her seat. She missed her chance to introduce herself to the group and now she regretted it.
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