As I saw his fist getting closer and closer to my face, the only reflex I managed to have was to close my eyes while hoping it wouldn't hurt too much.
I don't know if I was lucky or not, but it had been a few seconds since my eyes were closed, I hadn't felt any blow or pain, but everything was silent.
So I opened my eyes and I saw his fist which was two or three centimetres away from my face, but totally stopped and motionless.
When he saw that I had opened my eyes again, he pulled back his fist and said to me.
"You're better than I thought you were, actually."
Seeing that I didn't quite understand the situation, he continued.
"You've got a lot of nerve. To say that to me when I've got your shoulder in my hand and I can break it in one move, you've got to be either a total moron or have absolute self-confidence.
"I'm not sure how to take that, but I'd say I was waiting for you to hit me, actually. I replied, still slightly perturbed.
"To think I thought you were a bit interesting, you really are an idiot actually."
"Yeah, I know what you mean, any sensible person would probably apologize or ask you to forgive him."
"Oh, you seem pretty smart all the same.
Well, since I like you, I'll buy you a drink."
"That makes two of us."
" Excuse me? "
"I just told you there were two of us, if you like me then you like her too."
As I said this sentence I noticed that it was a very clichéd sentence that you could use to declare your laziness to someone. Which is not the case in this situation, but since it was the only phrase that came to mind I figured it would do the trick and no one would pay too much attention.
Unfortunately, his first reaction was the exact opposite of what I would have hoped for.
"Oh, is that your girlfriend?"
When he said this, my first reaction was to look at Alia's reaction.
And oddly enough, she hadn't reacted the way I thought she would. I would have expected her to get angry and say that she would never love me, while pushing me away, that would have been a normal response considering the way she behaves. But for this time, I was really surprised when I heard this answer.
"Yes, I'm his girlfriend so if you like him, you must like me.
For the first time I was surprised by one of her answers, she had acted the exact opposite of what I would have imagined and that was not good for me at all, because if it ever doesn't go well, he knows he can pressure her to do something, which he might not have done if she had answered that we weren't together.
"And you can prove that?"
"Yes of course." She replied without even consulting me or asking my opinion.
And I didn't even have time to say anything when she came closer to me, took my head between her two hands, closed her eyes and put her lips on mine.
For the first time in my 16 years of existence, I was kissing a girl.
This may seem late to some people but to me it would have been unthinkable until a week ago because the only girls I usually dated were my mother and my two sisters and it was unthinkable that I would ever kiss them.
When I felt the touch of her lips against mine I closed my eyes in return.
This kiss must have lasted for about three seconds until Alia pulled her head back.
And as soon as she had finished pulling back, she answered him.
"Is that enough evidence?"
I don't know if it was what he expected or not, but when he answered, a big smile appeared on his face.
"Yes, it's even more than I imagined.
Ahahah, for your trouble I'll buy everyone a round of drinks."
The bar that had become totally silent for the previous two minutes suddenly began to make noise again and all the men in the bar began to laugh in unison.
"By the way, my name is Shanlen and yours is Yù, right?"
"Yùichi, Yù is the nickname she gave me. And she is Alia."
"Yùichi and Alia. I like you, you are very surprising as guys.
Usually no one enters this bar because everyone knows I'm in it, but you got inside like a mill, from that moment I knew you were unusual people and the way you reacted there proved it, and fortunately otherwise I would have smashed you both up without exception.
"Yes, except that you would be dead."
"Dead? What do you mean dead?"
"Ba because of the war and the rules that forbid us to commit the slightest infraction on pain of imminent death. And I know what I'm talking about, a person died in front of me by hitting me.
"Oh I see. Follow me, I'll explain a few things."
As soon as he finished his sentence, he walked away from us while weaving between all the men now standing in front of the bar.
"Are you following him?" Alia asked me.
"Yes yes of course."
So I hurried after him with Alia right behind me, we walked about ten meters before we were in front of three doors.
The first door led to the men's room, the second door led to the bathroom but there was no sign to show who the bathroom was for, so I assumed it was for women. And finally the third door was a service door with a large sign on it saying 'Staff access only. No entry.
It was obviously this door that Shanlen opened.
When the door was opened, a cool breeze came out and stairs led down to another door that was much classier than the other two.
"Don't worry, this is the V.I.P. suite, it's out of the way because we use it for important meetings.
He may have said that, but this room really didn't give me confidence, so I discreetly put my hands in my pockets so that I would have my knife in the mina if the situation ever got out of hand when we were in that basement.
Shanlen took a key from his pocket and opened the door.
When the door was opened, a large room with a large round table and chairs all around was revealed.
Shanlen went in first and sat down on the only seat in the room. We followed him and Alia and I sat down on the chairs opposite him.
"Can I get you something to drink?
Noticing that neither of us answered he continued talking.
"But I only have alcohol. Do you prefer beer, whisky, rum, vodka?
Oh don't worry, it's on the house.
"Beer for me please." Alia replied without thinking.
"Oh, I like that, a girl who drinks alcohol is more and more rare these days. And you, Yùichi, what can I get you?"
Unlike those two, I'm still a minor and I've never drunk alcohol, so I have no idea what these drinks were. But since the only one I could remember besides beer was whiskey, that's how I decided what I would have.
"A glass of whiskey please."
"Oh, you're not cold-blooded. I like that too." Shanlen said, apparently happy that I was taking the alcohol.
I was a bit afraid of his reaction if I told him I wasn't drinking anything.
He brought us our drinks and returned to his chair.
"Let's get down to business. The reason I brought you to this room was to create a deal between us.
"The three of us?" I asked?
"No, there will be eight of us, and two of you. Guys, you can come in."
Suddenly, without warning, seven people entered the room, four men and three women, all different from each other.
"These are the other seven. And our goal is to become the next Great Patriarchs and given your reactions earlier, we agreed to include you in our plans, so that we can have the best possible chance of getting closer to that title. But to do that, we have to explain to you all the specifics, that we have found, about this war, the rules about the chip and the next ones that will come soon."