Chapter 97: Ch135. Karasu no Uta - 3
When dawn broke, Kurt woke up startled.
He wore a black t-shirt, jogging pants, and went to the cafeteria to get breakfast.
On his way there, he met Tosen, and the man didn’t look so good.
Although he was a man in his mid thirties, with slick blonde hair in a wild, spiked manner in his head, his brown eyes had dark circles under it.
And he had a patch over his left cheek.
Almost as tall as Kurt, Tosen turned to face him in a silent awkwardness.
When the awkward atmosphere felt like it was going to last forever, Kurt readied himself to break the silence or resume his walk to the cafeteria.
But Tosen made his move first.
He leaned forward, his torso going lower and lower until the japanese in front of Kurt was performing the deepest bow one could’ve ever seen.
"Kinō wa mubōna kōdō o shite shimai mōshiwake arimasendeshita! Mōichido chansu o ataete itadakereba, kongo wa yoriyoi furumai o suru koto o yakusoku shimasu!"
Kurt frowned and froze for a moment, surprised to notice that he wasn’t understanding a single thing the man said.
It was then that he remembered.
He touched his ears, and noticed that his universal translator, the earpiece from the day before, wasn’t there.
"Oh, shit... Where did I put it?" Kurt asked himself, groping around the pockets of his pants.
But it wasn’t there.
"Oh, well..."
He disappeared in the shadows for the briefest of moments, arriving back in his bedroom, where he found the earpiece lying over a study desk.
He wore it, and shadow traveled back to where Tosen was.
Kurt found the japanese just the way he were, as if he hadn’t noticed what happened.
"I, uh..." Kurt was unsure of how to say that. "I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but... Can you repeat what you just said?"
Tosen froze on his spot.
He slowly rose, and when Kurt looked at his face, he saw the man’s eyes twitching, and his lips bobbing up and down.
He wasn’t looking apologetic anymore.
Rather, he looked angry.
With a protruding vein bulging on his forehead.
"You... You... You arrogant little punk!" Tosen said, glaring at Kurt. "I came here, waited all night to meet you and apologize properly for my behavior yesterday... And you... You treat me and Yamamoto-sama’s hospitality with that ind of nonchalance?!"
At that time in the morning, the hallway wasn’t so crowded, but the guild employees were already arriving for the first shift.
Which meant that some of them were already heading towards the cafeteria to get their breakfast, chat about amenities, and get ready for work.
So, some of them were able to witness what was unfolding in the brightly lit hallway.
’Oh, boy... What a mess...’ Kurt smiled a yellow smile, as Tousen kept on speaking.
And when he was done with what he had to say, he unleashed a sentence that dropped everyone’s jaws to the floor.
"I challenge you to a duel!"
Everyone gasped at Tousen’s announcement, but Kurt, not knowing what to do with all that misunderstanding, and sure of the fact that even if he tried to explain it, the man in front of him wouldn’t understand, due to his hasty nature, sighed.
"What do you want from me, if you win?"
Tousen seemed to relax, ever so slightly.
"I want you to kneel and apologize for your nonchalance and insolence!"
At that moment, Kurt’s mind shone as if a bright light had been turned on in it.
"Fine." He said. "But are you ready to hold your leader’s word accountable, if I win?"
Everyone gasped again.
A few employees even held their breaths without knowing, anxious and thrilled to see what would happen of it.
Kurt heard the voice even before feeling Ruki’s presence.
But this time, he was prepared for it, so he didn’t take his eyes away from the second-in-command.
"My, my..." Ruki yawned, folding a paper cup full of tea. "Good morning, everyone. What is up with all this commotion so early in the day?"
Kurt smirked.
"I just asked your second-in-command if he’s willing to put your word on the line, if I win against him, fair and square, in a duel."
Kurt noticed it.
Ruki’s smile waver for less than a second, and the cup in his hand seemed to release more steam than it should.
But the guild master regained his composure even faster.
"I wouldn’t mind, depending on the request. However, since it’s a fair duel, one on one... I, Yamamoto Ruki, master of the guild Karasu no Uta, allow the duel between Kato Burei-san and Kurotsuki Tousen to happen. And if Kato-san happens to win..." The silence in the hallway was so thick it could be cut with a sword. "I will grant him anything he wants, as long as if it is within my reach."
Murmurs spread all around.
Everyone was shocked and amazed to know that the guild master himself permitted a duel.
And even more...
That the second-in-command himself, was going to fight against an unknown foreigner.
No one there knew about Kurt’s skills, but some of them witnessed first hand the incident between him and the guild leaders.
So they knew that either with Kurt winning or losing...
It was going to be a match for the ages.
Or Kurt would have his ass handed to him in a silver platter.
Ruki looked at them, cleared his throat, and announced.
"Since Tousen-cchi requested the duel, he will be the one to choose the place where it will be held. And Kato-san will choose the date when it will happen."
Tousen went first.
"Karasu no Uta’s training grounds!"
Then Kurt finished.
"Three days from now."
"Then it’s settled!" Ruki finished. "Now, if you all would be so kind, please, resume your activities, so we can get our daily tasks done."
"Are you all like that in the United States?" Ruki asked Kurt, with a smile.
"What?"
Tousen hold back a chuckle.
"Are you all that good with putting on a show?"
Kurt didn’t know if the question was a trap or not, but he answered anyway.
"I think you’re well aware of that, Ruki-san. Even more since you are not so enclosed in your own world, as to not know what happens outside your sphere."
Ruki laughed wholeheartedly.
"You sure are an intriguing youngling. Has anyone ever told you that?"
Kurt and Riku walked the rest of the distance towards the cafeteria together, sharing calculated small-talk, exchanging perplexed glances, and thinking to themselves.
Both Riku and Kurt suspected each other. And each one of them had their own reasons.
But what neither of them wanted to acknowledge, was that they were more alike than they were willing to give off.
They arrived at the cafeteria, and Kurt noticed immediately how he ended up becoming the center of attention, because all eyes were on him.
And despite his best efforts, he couldn’t hide completely his uneasiness.
"You don’t like being the center off attention, yet you seem to not be able to do anything, other than that, right?"
Kurt didn’t seem to be able to retort that.
Even more so, when he looked at his clothing, and despite not actively wearing it, he could still see the silhouette of his armor, [RIGHT HAND’S QUIETNESS].
He felt like it was one of the many things in him drawing everyone’s attention to him.
"Yeah, I think you could say that..." Kurt surrendered. "Any tips on how I can be more subtle?"
Ruki smiled, touching Kurt’s shoulder, as they sat at one of the many tables spread through the largely furnished establishment.
"Not a single one." Ruki chuckled. "I have an advice, though."
Kurt nodded, silently asking for the guild master to go on.
Ruki gave him a mysteriously warm smile, and said.
"The brighter the light, the darker the shadow." He winked at Kurt.
Kurts eyes went wide.
Was that possible that the man in front of him...
No.
Kurt shook his head ever so slightly.
It had to be impossible.
"Being done with the advices and the small talk, I have a gift for you. And for your friends, I mean." Ruki corrected himself, ordering one more cup of tea, as he reached for the pocket of his jeans, and took a credit card from it. "Here. You still have three days to prepare, so I think you should do whatever you think you should with it. I thought it’s be good if you and your group bought some new clothes, you know... To blend in a little. But you do whatever suits you."
Kurt was still shocked about Ruki’s advice from earlier, so he didn’t quite process what was happening.
He just took the card, thanked the guild master, and put it in his pocket.
After breakfast, Kurt went to work out on the guild’s training grounds, where he met Nikolai, Cinthia, Evellyn, and Robby.
They looked like they had won the lottery.
Evellyn and Robby looked at Kurt like two puppies, as soon as they greeted him.
"How about buying clothes in Shibuya?"
