Unfortunately I didn't have time to say anything else, because he was already starting to rush at me, fist cocked, ready to hit me.
But fortunately, or not, a benefactor appeared in front of me.
Between Carlo's point and my head, Shanlen's hand intervened and stopped his fist dead in its tracks.
Shanlen - "Excuse me, but if you want to fight it's outside my establishment, I don't want to have to clean up what's left of the loser."
Carlo - "So it was that bastard who shot him?"
Shanlen - "He told you himself. So if you want to settle the score with him, you can, but do it somewhere other than my bar."
Carlo - "Tss. If what you're saying is true, I'm clearly not interested in fighting him. He's capable of killing a guy I've never been able to beat. I want revenge, but with these fucking fleas, it's impossible."
Shanlen - "That's very good. Think hard about your evil plan and come back when it's ready. In the meantime, get out of here before I kill you.
I'm almost wondering if this is all staged, because Carlo has actually left while looking like he's thinking, unless he's totally stupid.
Shanlen: "So you. You can't help but make a mess every time you come here."
Me - "But this time I didn't do anything wrong. He's the one who came to mess with me. "
Shanlen: "Strangely enough, it's never your fault.
Me - "But it's true, I'm totally innocent this time."
Shanlen: "Yeah, if you say so. I don't know what's keeping me from hitting you though."
Menelle - "The chip maybe."
Me - "Why, did I do something wrong?"
Shanlen - "You didn't forget to come back the day after your butchery?"
Me - "What? When?"
Shanlen - "Did you do it on purpose? The day you killed Doz, I told you to come back the next day.
Well, now that he's told me, I've got it all figured out. With the reunion between Angelo and Shiro, I had completely forgotten our appointment.
Me - "Ah yes, indeed I completely forgot to come back. Did you have something important to tell me?
Shanlen - "Do you think I would have told you to come back the next day if I didn't have something important to tell you?
Me - "Yeah, well, given the situation I had just created, you'd better not have brought me back unless you had a good reason. Well, I didn't come on the right day, but I came back anyway, so you can tell me."
Shanlen: "You don't think I'm going to tell you in front of all those fools listening to us. Come and follow me downstairs."
Me - "Sorry, but I don't have time to go downstairs. I have an important meeting in less than an hour.
Shanlen: "Well, you clearly don't care what I have to say."
Me - "If you'd let me finish my sentence you wouldn't have to talk. This meeting is about the alliance I created and since you're not the only one I thought we'd all get together."
Shanlen - "Did you tell them about what I told you?"
Me - "Absolutely not, it's all confidential."
Shanlen: "That's fine. So how many other people are in the alliance?"
Me - "12 more people."
I don't really know if all 12 people will agree, but ideally it should be:
Alia, Angelo, Kana, Nomiko, Shiro, Selstine, Sonya, Kosho, Zilfius, Zera, Leona and Lysis.
Shanlen - "Interesting. And what time are you planning to meet them?"
Me - "This afternoon, in an hour."
Shanlen - "At five o'clock?"
Me - "Yeah right."
Shanlen - "Well, let's not waste any time and go right away."
Me - "Who are you taking with you?"
Shanlen - "The seven people in front of you. Why do you have a problem with that?"
Me - "I don't, that's what I wanted to hear."
Shanlen - "All right, shall we go?"
Me - "Yeah, let's go."
May - "Great, we're going to meet some new friends, I can't wait."
Ojoth - "Shut up May, you're already pissing me off."
Chauk - "Hey, here we go again."
Ojoth - "What's on?"
Well obviously, the 5 minutes that separated us from the hotel bar were spent hearing Ojoth insulting everyone in turn.
I think that everyone had the least to his personal insult, even me who had not asked anything.
Me - "Okay, we're here, can you ask Ojoth to shut up?"
Shanlen - "Oh Ojoth, shut the fuck up while we're in this hotel or I swear I'll kill you."
This guy is really persuasive, in one sentence he managed to shut him up while none of the other 7, including me, could.
Shanlen - "Is that okay?"
Me - "Perfect, thank you."
Menelle - "We're not so smart now. Right, Ojoth?"
Shanlen - "What I said to Ojoth applies to all of you. So shut up if you're going to talk nonsense."
At the risk of repeating myself, but Shanlen really does command respect when necessary.
So it was in a great silence, interspersed with sounds of wonder from May and Menelle that we arrived at the front door of the hotel room.
Me - "Well, we're here. It's not 5 o'clock yet so you'll have to wait a bit. Normally, there might be some people in the room so talk and get to know them. But please, avoid unnecessary fuss."
Shanlen - "Says the guy who shot another guy because he touched his girl."
Me - "I already told you, it was unintentional. Anyway, moving on."
So I opened the door and again, May and Menelle who was amazed at the beauty of the door.
But when we entered the room, new noise could be heard, but it was not only them two.
The 8 were admiring this huge room with their mouths open.
Angelo - "Hey Yùichi, who are these guys?
Me - "Angelo, this is Shanlen, May, Menelle, Chauk, Ojoth, Isobe, Vasoros and Rujin."
Angelo - "Nice to meet you, my name is Angelo and I'm Yùichi's dad."
Of course, he couldn't help saying such a stupid thing.
Shanlen - "Well then, Yùichi, you didn't tell us that your darling daddy would be here.
And of course, given Shanlen's character, he was going to play along and tease me.
I don't know why, but I have a feeling that those two will get along well.
Angelo - "But no, my little Yùichi never told you about me? Were you ashamed Yùichi?"
This useless discussion continued like this for a few seconds during which both laughed out loud.
Me - "May, Menelle, follow me."
May - "Where are you taking us?"
Me - "To a place where you'll probably feel more comfortable."
At first, I thought of Nomiko, but considering their ages, only May could get along with her.
So I decided to take Menelle to Alia, because their ages more or less match.
Me - "Alia, are you awake?"
Alia - "Yes? What's up?"
Me - "Can I come in?"
Alia - "Yes, if you want."
So I opened the door, while apprehensive that she was not in an acceptable condition to receive people.
But luckily she was just doing her hair.
Alia - "Oh, you are Menelle and May right?"
Menelle - "Yes, that's right, and you are Alia, right?"
Me - "Well, if you'll excuse us, May and I are leaving."
May - "Where are we going?"
Me - "Don't worry, follow me."
This time, I left in the direction of Nomiko's room and more or less the same discussion happened, with the only detail that the two girls seemed really happy to meet another girl of the same age as theirs.
Well, I managed to be alone at last.
Unfortunately, I have very little time left, only 10 minutes to prepare my speech and to elaborate a plan that will satisfy more than 20 people, some of whom I hardly know.
And this plan will have to be clear, concise and operational enough to last until 01/01/500 at 1:45 PM.