"So we know Felix's name, but what's yours and what's hers for that matter?" Kira asked with a curious glint in her eyes.
"My name is Marcus, Marcus Fall." Marcus replied, "And this is Luna Fall." He added as he gestured towards Luna.
Kira's eyes widened slightly as Marcus said Luna's last name. "You share the same last name?" She asked, is this a coincidence or is she family?"
Marcus fell silent as he attempted to figure out a plausible explanation.
Marcus could claim Luna was his adopted sister, it wasn't the ideal plan, if Kira pushed any further Marcus would be pressed to come up with plausible explanations, but there wasn't another explanation as simple as this one.
And there was no way in hell Marcus could tell the truth, as he didn't quite know the extent of how tightly regulated anomaly knowledge was.
"She's my adopted sister." Marcus answered, "I take her everywhere with me."
Kira nodded with a satisfied smile. "It's a good practice, but I wish I could've gotten someone as adorable as her first." She said with a laugh.
Marcus nodded in genuine agreement. Despite how he and Luna met, he couldn't deny that she had become an important cornerstone in his life.
"Especially with how cute those clothes are, I'm sure they weren't cheap for that quality, what do you do to pay for them?" Kira asked.
Marcus swallowed hard as he searched for another plausible answer.
"Uhm, I work with Felix," Marcus replied with a nervous chuckle. "Yeah…"
Kira raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Interesting, I assume it must be important if both of you dodge that question in such strange ways."
Marcus, eager to turn the situation around, flipped the question back to Kira. "What do you do?" He asked.
Kira's smile widened as she sat back in her seat. "I'm in Academy Omega right now, studying fashion and software engineering."
Marcus nodded his head as he remembered Felix mentioning going to the café near the Academy.
"That's good," Marcus replied as he nodded his head.
The table quickly fell into silence as neither Marcus nor Kira asked a follow-up question.
Kira glanced at Kinsley with a knowing smile as she placed a hand on her cheek.
Kinsley's expression turned to frustration as she huffed a deep sigh.
"Marcus." Kinsley began. "What do you do in your free time?" Marcus noticed Kinsley avoiding eye contact as she spoke to him.
Marcus groaned internally, Kinsley reminded him a lot of Sang-Hee, even if she wasn't as prideful and independent.
"I play games and read from time to time," Marcus answered. "What about you?"
"I write," Kinsley replied with little emotion.
Kira chuckled softly as she watched Marcus and Kinsley interact. "It's like I'm watching statues." She said jokingly, "Go on Kinsley, tell him more about yourself."
Kinsley glared at Kira with an annoyed look "He can speak up more too, you know." Kinsley said sarcastically. "It's not like I asked for this."
"Yet it's happening." Kira quipped back, "his friend came over and talked to me, now he's buying us drinks, don't you want to see what you can get out of Marcus?" Kira said with a wink toward Marcus.
Marcus felt his heart skip a beat at the way Kira phrased her words.
Was she hitting on him, or was she trying to get Kinsley to do it?
Either way, Marcus was dying for Felix to return and fast.
"I don't want anything from the guy!" Kinsley exclaimed with a flushed face.
"I'm not like you." She continued with a roll of her eyes.
Marcus wondered if they had forgotten he was there, if they had then maybe this wasn't so bad, but it was weird hearing them talking in front of him like he wasn't there.
Kira sighed as she sat up in her seat. "Very well," she said calmly as she turned her attention towards Marcus. "Kinsley finds a lot of enjoyment in playing football, she actually plays for our academy, second second-best striker for the girl's team."
Kinsley gave Marcus a side eye, probably to gauge his reaction to the news.
If what Kira had said was true, then Kinsley is truly a master-class talent, as there are only twenty-five master academies in the world, five in each continent except Antarctica for obvious reasons and Oceania which included Asia.
These academies held some of the world's greatest talents in all fields, including sports, art, science, and more.
There was just one tiny problem.
Marcus didn't know anything about the women's division of the sport, academy or otherwise.
Marcus quickly contemplated how he should react, he knew he could go overboard as that would probably creep Kinsley out but he couldn't underperform either as she'd probably just clam up.
"Woah," Marcus said in feigned astonishment as he stared into Kinsley's eyes giving her his full attention.
"you must be awesome at the sport, I'd love to watch you play sometime."
Marcus grinned inwardly; he knew he had nailed the perfect reaction.
Kinsley's eyes widened as her face turned red. "I have to use the loo." She replied softly as she quickly stood up from the table.
Kira grinned mischievously as she glanced at Marcus.
Marcus was dumbfounded, did he oversell his part?
He watched as Kinsley walked away from the table and towards the bathroom in confusion.
"Damnit," Marcus mumbled in disappointment.
"It's fine Marcus," Kira said with an amused chuckle. "Kinsley is just bad with compliments, especially from guys, rest assured you did nothing wrong."
Marcus sighed as he placed an elbow on the table. "You sure?" He asked, "feels like I overdid it."
"I'm positive," Kira reassured Marcus.
"But, I am curious, you speak English with an American accent, yet Felix has a German accent, how did you two meet?" She asked with a curious smile and a tilt of her head.
"We met through our job," Marcus said vaguely.
"We clicked it off easy enough, he was the more confident and experienced type. I was more reserved, so he kinda just took me along in a sense."
Kira nodded. "I could tell, when Felix was here you let him do all the talking, it's a similar deal for me and my friends, Cora is shy and quiet, while Kinsley is reserved and stern, but she's just as shy as Cora if you push enough."
Kira smiled as she continued. "But on the pitch, she's a completely different person, like a machine."
Marcus found himself following Kira's every word. He found it intriguing how well their friendship seemed to work, it was well-balanced.
"Sounds like you got a lot of insight into life and its workings, do you mind if I ask you a question?" Marcus asked as he leaned forward.
"I'm listening," Kira replied with a smile.
Marcus nodded as he began to ask his question. "What's the best thing to do when you're feeling closeted like you're trapped in a loop of bad things."
Kira fell silent as her expression grew perplexed. "That's a deep question to ask someone you just met," Kira replied as she leaned back in her seat.
"You don't have to answer," Marcus said as he tapped the table nervously.
He was wondering what Kira's insight would bring onto his sleeping problem, as the only time he got genuine sleep was when he passed out from exhaustion, every other time he'd just wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.
"No, I like it, a good challenging question to further break the ice," Kira replied in a thoughtful tone.
"I'd probably say talk to someone you trust about it, getting stuff off your chest is a good way to relieve stress, I should know, both of the fields I'm in drain me in a similar manner."
Marcus nodded in understanding, it wasn't the answer he had hoped for, but it did reinforce what he already knew.
Suddenly, Felix and Cora returned with two trays of drinks, Felix held one tray while Cora held the other.
Reaching the table Cora handed her tray to Kira, while Felix stood beside Marcus.
"Here," Felix said to Marcus as he removed a cup from the tray and handed it to Marcus.
Marcus accepted the cup hesitantly. "But I didn't ask for anything," Marcus said as he looked down at the coffee cup, which was filled with black coffee.
"I know," Felix replied with a smile as he handed Luna a smaller cup, which was filled with hot chocolate that had been cooled.
Luna accepted the cup with a skeptical expression before glancing at Marcus, who was already sipping his coffee.
Felix then took his seat across from Kira, he grinned at her as he finished answering Marcus's question. "But money is no constraint with me." He said with a wink.
Marcus sighed as he placed his cup down. Obviously, money wasn't a concern for either of them, but that wasn't his point.
Felix then turned his attention towards the empty seat near Marcus. "Where's Kinsley?" He asked as he sipped his coffee.
"Marcus flattered her a bit too much." Kira replied with a giggle as she took a sip from her drink, "Maybe he's picking up your habits." She said teasingly.
Felix's eyes widened in disbelief as he turned his head slowly towards Marcus. "What did you do? What did you say?" He asked in a slight panic.
"I didn't do anything!" Marcus said defensively, "I just said I wanted to see her play sometime, then she went to the bathroom."
A relaxed expression washed off Felix's face as he sighed a breath of relief. "You can't do that bro, it's too soon to be making dates."
Kira giggled once more, "Well who knows, keep going and we might be free tomorrow." Kira said as she winked at Cora.
Cora chuckled nervously as nodded in agreement.
Felix smirked as he sipped his coffee once more. "Well alright, let's see if I can't get that schedule cleared."
Their conversation continued on well into the afternoon.
Felix continued to shamelessly flirt with Kira and she'd respond with a challenge or a question, though mostly she just giggled at Felix's antics. Luna and Cora both remained silent for their part, occasionally nodding at whatever their respective group had said.
Marcus and Kinsley chimed into the conversation once or twice during each topic shift, but mostly they found themselves avoiding eye contact.
As the conversation died down and both parties prepared to depart the café to continue on their own journeys, Kira had one more thing to say to Felix.
"It was nice chatting with you Felix, Marcus, and Luna," Kira said with a nod to each person's name she called. "We enjoyed your company."
Felix smirked as he crossed his arms, "likewise." He replied smoothly, "though I guess the real question is whether that schedule got cleaned up or not."
Kira giggled as she reached into her purse. "Maybe." She replied with a grin.
"I'll have to stop by this park at around nine tomorrow." She said as she began writing something down on a piece of paper she pulled from her purse.
She then handed the paper to Felix, who accepted it with a satisfied smile. "I enjoy parks a bit myself, love to keep an eye out for any beauty I might find at a place like that."
Kira smiled at Felix's words before turning to face Marcus. "Kinsley will be practicing, so dress light." She said with a wink.
She then looked down at Luna and waved with a warm smile on her face. "And I hope to see you there too, cutie," Kira said before turning to leave the café with her friends in tow.
Felix smirked as he watched the group leave. "I think I'm in love bro," Felix said playfully as he placed the note in his pocket.
Marcus chuckled as he shook his head. "You can't fall in love with a woman you just met, it's against the rules." He said jokingly.
"Then call me a rule breaker." Felix quipped back as they began walking towards the exit.
Stepping outside into the warm afternoon air, Marcus felt a rushing sense of anticipation and cautious optimism.
"Do you think It'll go anywhere?" Marcus asked Felix as they walked down the sidewalk, Luna holding his hand tightly.
"What?" Felix asked as he turned to look at Marcus, "you mean with those girls?"
Marcus nodded. "Yeah, they seem nice enough."
Felix shook his head. "In all honesty, no, you know as well as I do that at the end of the week it's right back to the 'company' building," Felix said vaguely in case anyone was listening. "I doubt 'boss' would let us just leave whenever we want to go visit them, so we'd only be able to text and call them."
Felix's expression then turned slightly serious, "and even you should be able to see that girls as cute as they are, probably aren't interested in long-distance relationships."
Marcus sighed as he nodded in agreement. "I figured that would be the case."
Felix smiled as he patted Marcus's back. "Hey chin up bro, let's enjoy this break we got, and who knows maybe we'll get surprised."
Marcus smiled as he nodded in agreement. "Yeah, yeah you're right."