Unlike when they ate outside when Key had just joined the team, they rode their respective cars because it's not an official company business but an impromptu decision of going out so they didn't have any company bus to use.
Bright, Alexei and Rasheed are the only ones with a car in the gaming base's garage so they decided on their car arrangement; Opal and Rio will ride with Bright, Quant and El will ride with Alexei, and Dewy and Key will ride with Rasheed.
They rode the car, and the owners of the cars drove to the nearest restaurant that serves meat, seafood, and gourmet, and despite referring to it as the 'nearest', the said restaurant is more than three kilometers away from the JLNC gaming base.
It took them one and a half-hour to travel before they arrived at the restaurant, and they parked their cars in the restaurant's parking lot as soon as they arrived.
They unintentionally attracted a lot of attention as they walked into the restaurant, the hype and heat of the discussions on the internet are still hot, and JLNC's name is still in the top hot searches, although not in the top ten, their group name is still trending.
"Are you shy?" Alexei and Rios started teasing the culprit of their currently high publicity who fixed her mask as if it was going to help her hide her identity
"No, of course not," Key shook her head
It's not that she dislikes the feeling of people staring at her, it's just that she's feeling uneasy for some reason that she can't explain.
She also feels a weird chill on the back of her neck, and her years of existence had taught her never to ignore her instincts and gut feeling, it can be a lethal mistake.
They went inside and even the customers in the shop couldn't help but turn their heads and take a picture of the JLNC team secretly.
They looked for a table that can seat all nine of them.
"I'll order," Key volunteered
"I'll go with you," Quant also raised his hand
"Nico will go with you," Dewy said and looked at Rasheed who immediately stood up
The three of them headed to the counter and stood in line, and while in the line, Key's phone vibrated because she received a message from TL.
She opened the message and it says;
'Mere, we confirmed it, there was no hacking involved. It was really them. Take care, primogéniteur – mere, we'll monitor you from here.'
She closed it and hid it back in her pocket.
When the waiter approached them, he was star-struck when he saw and recognized the three of them, he asked them about their order and Quant enumerated the quantity of each order on the menu.
The waiter had to divide the orders into two order papers before he handed them to Key and Rasheed nervously, after they received the order note, Quant also excused himself to go back to their table.
When it was already their turn, they went to separate counters to make the processing of their orders quicker.
Key ordered the four chicken buckets, ten all-you-can-eat barbeque rice meals, bottomless large iced tea, and the two platters of shanghai rolls, while Rasheed ordered the pot of corn and crab mushroom soup, two platters of garlic and chili prawn, and the ten large cups of eight-scooped ice cream.
Rasheed was about to hand his card to Key, Dewy asked him to accompany her and Quant because he'll pay, but he saw her scanning the QR code with her phone and paying for their orders.
Key turned her head to face him and placed her finger in front of her mask as if telling him to be quiet, her eyes narrowed a bit which meant she's smiling.
They walked back to their table while holding their numbers and Rasheed's gaze didn't leave Key which made her a bit uncomfortable so she looked at him but he averted his gaze, the guys were talking and chitchatting when they came back.
"The cashier said to wait for at least fifteen minutes, they're still preparing our food," Key said and opened her phone
"You've been busy with your phone, boyfriend?" Alexei asked and Key chuckled before removing the mask covering half of her face
"No, I don't have one." She replied and placed her phone down
"I was communicating with… second… or was it third…" Key trailed while she blinked because she doesn't remember her exact relationship with the troublemakers
"A relative," she gave up tracing back TL and the other troublemakers' roots back to her
"You came from a big family, Key?" Rio asked and Key chuckled
"You can say that," Key said while smiling
"Number 15, Chantel!"
"Number 14, Nicholas!"
They raised their hands and the waiters carrying trays of their orders approached their table.
They helped the waiters arrange their food orders on the table while putting the barbeque meals in front of each person seated at the table.
After the waiter collected their numbers, they started eating.
"Itadakimasu," Rio expressed with his hands pressed
"What?" Rio asked and looked at them and they shook their heads
"Sometimes we forget that you're half-Japanese." Alexei commented
"But not as often as we forget Key's age," El teased Key who just shook her head while chuckling
"Or that she's a law student," Quant added and the two, who didn't know, looked at Key
"Huh, you're a law student?" Alexei asked in surprise
"Yeah, I graduated with a law degree," Key replied and Rio looks amazed
"My cousin's also taking up law, he's rarely around," Rio commented
"Oh, Akio…" Key muttered and started eating
Rio didn't mind or didn't hear, that Key had just mentioned his cousin's name.
They started eating, they thought that they won't get to finish all the food that they ordered but they did.
It was already half-past two when they finished eating, they were all full and they head back to their ride.
Everyone was silent during the drive, but that didn't last long because minutes later a loud screech echoed followed by a loud crashing sound.
The backseat part of Alexei's car was hit by a car and not long after, the sound of sirens echoed. The other members of JLNC parked their cars and went to check on their teammates.
Quant hit his head while Alexei only attained minor injuries and scratches, but El, who was seated in the exact place where the car hit, was rushed to the hospital in a stretcher, along with Alexei and Quant for further examination.
The other JLNC members followed behind the ambulance and waited until Alexei and Quant are discharged but El needed to wear a cast and had to stay in the hospital for a day or two for further examinations to make sure that there were no other injuries.
Dewy contacted the management to inform them about the situation and El's current condition, given that there are in the middle of the National League Tournament, they scolded him for being irresponsible.
"It wasn't your fault, Dewy," Key said she was the one who overheard the scolding when she went out
"No, it was," Dewy shook his head and sat on the chair in the hospital's hallway
"We're the one who suggested eating out, Dewy, not you. And besides, we went by 'majority rules' so it's not your fault. If you want to take the blame, blame us as well then." Key added and Dewy sighed
If there's anything Key is best at, it's looking for reasons to absolve someone, herself most of the time, from getting blamed, so she knew what exactly to say to make someone less guilty.
"How is El?" Dewy asked when she sat next to him
"They've finished putting his cast, and he'll need to wear the cast for a month or two so Rio will be playing for the rest of the games." Bright, who had just come out of El's hospital room, answered
"How did he take it?" Dewy asked and Key snuck back into El's hospital room
"El playfully referred to it as paid vacation," Bright said with a small smile
"Well, it would turn out like that," Dewy said and sighed
"It's not your fault," Bright said and Dewy looked at him before shaking his head
"The management is mad," Dewy said and Bright sighed
"That's not surprising, Dewy, we're in the middle of the tournament," Bright said and tapped his shoulder before smiling
"But it's not your fault." Bright added and led Dewy into El's hospital room
The members inside the hospital room are laughing and talking happily as if nothing serious happened, which lightened up Dewy's mood.
Although they got into an accident, the members are laughing and joking around, and El is viewing his situation in a good light, really treating it as a paid vacation.
"Man, I want to go on a vacation too." Alexei kidded
"You're already on vacation as a sub," El remarked making the room filled with laughter