PoV Valis
After a few days of wandering the ruined city, we finally reached the place Diego was talking about. A tall, perfectly maintained building that had most of the floors illuminated. It even had a reception.
At the reception, a tall white man stopped us. Without uttering a single word, he guided us towards an elevator located in the center of the ground floor. Once inside, he took out a key, and instead of choosing to press a button among the 20 present in the panel, he took out a key and unlocked something hidden in the panel. He used his body to cover what he was doing, but soon after, the door closed and the elevator started moving.
It carried us underground, in front of some sort of railway, where small capsules were waiting for us. Each of them could carry at most two people. The insides were mostly black and had many belts on each side.
The man signaled us to get closer, so I decided to use my index finger to test the texture of the seats. They were extremely smooth and soft to the touch. I could feel my finger sink with the slightest amount of pressure.
The inside didn't have any seats. We were supposed to sink into whatever material that was, and then they would put on all the belts to keep us safe.
'Is he mute? He hasn't said anything-'
I saw him helping Satsui strap up his belts. Even when Satsui thanked him, he simply responded with a small nod downward.
The first ones to get launched were the two brothers. Then it was finally our turn, while Forren was the last one to go. The capsules were surprisingly comfortable and fast. I was so comfortable, I even fell asleep inside.
I woke up later that day in the arms of Tsuitame. When I woke up, we were currently on an elevator on our way to the penthouse Diego promised us.
"Oh, good evening." said Tsuitame, while also making a squeaky sound.
I tried to stretch a bit while yawning. It was a bit uncomfortable in the position I was in. Then, as I started to look for the others, I saw that pretty much all of them were extremely tired.
Forren was probably the least lethargic of them. He was visibly tired but was not about to fall asleep standing like Folarin or Satsui. Satsui was the most tired of them all. With his tail basically on the ground, he was carrying himself with just willpower alone, as his eyes were already shut.
The house was extremely luxurious. The floor was shining. It was mainly gray with some splashes of black. There were many plants in every corner of the room. On the side of the walls, there were lights. They were horizontally attached to the walls, and they were attached to every wall. The furniture was mostly made out of futuristic gadgets. Each one of them had a small panel displaying the items inside, and upon clicking on the requested item, the furniture would open itself, and a small mechanical arm would place the requested item on top of it.
Diego was waiting for us in the kitchen. While the rest of the team went directly to sleep, me and Tsuitame went to greet Diego.
Diego had his hair wet and was wearing only a bathrobe.
He was mostly drinking wine straight from the bottle. On the tables, there were many dishes full of food. In front of each dish was a name plate with our names.
He also had a plate that was filled with different cuts of meat. There were some bacon strips, ham, fried chicken wings, chicken nuggets, a medium-rare steak, and lastly, some fried eggs. He had prepared a similar dish for Forren, just bigger and with even more fried stuff.
'Just how much is he eating anyway? I get that he loves meat, but that plate doesn't make any sense.'
"Hi." I said in an awkward tone.
As soon as he noticed us, he took a quick sip to swallow something that was stuck in his throat.
"Are you ok?" I asked while trying to get him a glass of water.
"I'm fine," he managed to say in between coughs.
In the meantime, Tsuitame had taken his plate from the kitchen counter table and placed it on the massive aisle that was in the middle of the room. His plate was mainly composed of steak, potatoes, and carrots. There were also canned peaches in syrup for him.
"Did you cook all this stuff?" asked Tsuitame.
"Not really; I just asked the cooks. They were kind enough to also prepare specific dishes for everyone. You should thank them tomorrow." He answered him.
"What about me?" I asked him.
He then took out a plate of noodles with a green sauce, a small cutlet with spinach, and a small slice of cake.
"Isn't this a little too much for a meal?" I said.
"I liked it." Diego answered while eating the steak with his bare hands.
"I don't think I can eat all of this." I continued.
"Then eat what you can and leave the leftovers in the fridge." He said this while pointing out where the fridge was.
As I got closer to getting my dishes, I noticed that Diego was smelling really nice, completely in contrast to us.
"Where's the bathroom? I really want to take a quick shower." I asked.
"Oh, don't worry; take your time if you want; it's on the second floor. Once you finish climbing up the stairs, it's at the end of the hallway to the left." He said this while eating a sausage.
I noticed that even Satsui had started eating with his bare hands. Next to him were Folarin's dishes. She had no meat in any of them. One of them was a simple salad with lettuce, those purple onions, tomatoes, olives, and cucumbers. Then she had some spinach mixed in with the potatoes, and on top of that, there was a sprinkle of parmesan.
'Is he a kid?'
"Gross, go get yourself some cutlery." I said this to Tsuitame while I was on my way to the bathroom.
"Is the bathroom seriously only on the second floor?" asked Tsuitame.
"Of course not; I just sent her in the furthest one from here in case someone needs to use the others available." Diego answered.
He made a weird expression while looking at me while also tilting his head sideways.
"It's because we finally have hot water. Even I spent almost an hour in my first shower here, just purely enjoying this luxury." He added to not sound like a jerk.
"How long can we stay here?" Tsuitame asked.
"Unfortunately, not much. We have about one week left to kill the current head of state. The problem is, the situation here is so messy that I don't even know who it could be. Each faction has its own power and influence. It's hard to say who's really running the country from the shadows." He said this with his mouth still full of meat.
"What happens if we fail?" I asked.
"We get disqualified and sent back home. It means the death of our planet."
I then took another sip of the sweet and sour drink I had in my hands.
"Do you have some cold water?" Tsuitame asked.
I then opened the freezer and checked. We indeed had some bottles of frozen water. Thankfully, I found one that was still not frozen.
"Catch!" I shouted as I threw it at Tsuitame.
He grabbed it and drank it all at once. He then opened the can of peaches and started quickly devouring them, barely chewing.
"Calm down, man; no one is going to steal them from you." Diego said.
"Sorry, sorry." He said this, licking his lips.
"Anyway, how did you know that I liked them?" He asked him.
"The first week, you were very protective of them. I just wanted us to finally have a good meal after months of tough and flavorless meat." Diego responded.
"Thanks, dude, you're the best." He then started quickly drinking the syrup directly from the can.
"Can I have some more?" He then asked me while showing me the empty can.
"I don't know. Do you want me to go check? "
"If it doesn't bother you…"
"Yeah, no problem."
PoV Satsui
I woke up mainly because of the sweet scent that had invaded my room. My vision was still blurry, but I managed to recognize the gray fur of my brother. He was holding something big and yellow in his hands.
"What's up?" he said in a cheerful voice.
"What do you want?" I angrily asked him.
"Dinner is ready."
"Get out and open the window. I told you thousands of times that I don't like sugary scents." I said this while burying my face in the pillow.
I heard him sneaking past me and awkwardly fidgeting with something, and then the air inside the room began to get colder and colder, while the sweet scent faded.
"Thanks—"
"Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake" My brother then started annoying me once more.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake--"
"LET ME SLEEP GOD DAMMIT!" I said this while rapidly raising my head and staring directly into his eyes.
"Wake up?" he said while making puppy eyes.
I sighed.
"I'll eat later, ok?" I tried to reassure him first.
"Why not now?" But it didn't work.
"I'm too tired to give two fucks about dinner." So I tried to brush him off.
"But that's unhealthy." But that didn't work either.
I was suppressing the urge to punch him. He was instead smiling and giggling like a child.
He kept pestering me until I got up and went to eat.
'At least I made him promise he wouldn't do it again.'
As I entered the kitchen, I noticed that everyone was there and everyone was equally tired. Folarin was basically sleeping on the table with her face next to her dinner.
Valis was already eating, Forren was just staring at his plate while Folarin was ignoring hers. Diego and my brother had their plates emptied out.
As I looked at him, I noticed he had about three cans of peaches in syrup. Each can weigh around 300 grams or more. I then snatched a couple away.
"Hey, those are mine!" He shouted.
"Moderation! You're eating too much sugar." I admonished him while I was looking around, trying to find a way to dispose of that food.
"But… I haven't eaten any for a couple of months. That's almost my entire life." He protested.
"Shut up!" Shouted the tired Folarin.
"Sorry." My brother and I apologized at the same time. Immediately after, Diego started laughing.
As I sat down, I noticed that Diego had saved up an entire bird for me. It was covered in a slimy sauce that was both sweet and spicy. It was accompanied by a small portion of rice and some potatoes. I was also the only one served with a cup of milk; everyone else had water.
Aside from the milk, everything was delicious. When I had finished, Forren was still ravenously devouring his food, chewing as little as possible, but the meat was so tender and juicy that it probably didn't need to be chewed as much. Folarin, instead, was reluctantly eating. Sometimes she would steal some of Forren's meat, but when he noticed it, he moved his food as far away from her as possible.
"Is the food not to your liking?" I asked.
"Well… the food is… it's bland at best and disgusting at worst." She uncomfortably said.
"Can I have a bite?" I asked.
"Of course!"
I then took a bit of her spinach, and it was utterly disgusting. It was extremely watery and sour. I immediately spat it away.
"How strange, I surely asked the chef to prepare the best vegan thing they could cook." said Diego, while also taking a small bite out of her salad.
He had a big smile stamped on his face. As soon as he realized it, he covered his mouth with his hand, but it was already too late.
'How childish.'
Folarin then threw the dishes at him, but due to his strange ability, they went past him as if he wasn't there.
"Asshole." She muttered as she left the room.
"Good night, sweetie." He shouted back.
"FUCK YOU!"
I simply sighed and went back to my room, carrying the leftovers with me.