Flora gestured for Shed to approach the table, while the man sitting at the head of the table invited the young man to sit down. Shed reluctantly approached the table but chose to remain standing.
Flora positioned herself to his right, a few steps behind.
"I don't like beating around the bush, so I'll be as straightforward as possible…"
The blond-haired man spoke, capturing Shed's attention.
"I know you haven't been here long, but I'd still like to know what impression you've formed about the Colosseum… oh, and don't be afraid to answer honestly; nothing we say in here will be heard by the hawks…" the masked man continued.
"Hawks?" Shed asked.
"It's what we call the security cameras scattered throughout the Colosseum…" the man explained.
Shed nodded, then thought about the question the man had asked. Although he had just said he would be direct, Shed found his request anything but clear; in fact, what he had asked seemed overly ambiguous.
This made Shed hesitate on how to respond.
'What does he really want to know?'
The young man wondered.
The gladiator before him seemed intelligent, and because of this, Shed suspected that there was an unstated purpose behind his request.
"The Colosseum seems to me… a prison that's far too comfortable…"
After hesitating for a while, Shed decided to answer, trying to be as vague as possible while still speaking his true thoughts.
Shed tried to gauge the reactions of the three in front of him; however, aside from a slight smile from the man at the head of the table, the others didn't seem to react at all.
"Oh…I like your answer…" he said, smiling. "So… if you think it's a prison, you must have thought about escaping from here at least once, right?" The man at the head of the table asked.
Shed's eyes lit up.
'Could it be that my crazy theory wasn't so crazy after all?'
The man's question supported Shed's wild theory, a theory that now seemed plausible.
There had to be people within the Colosseum crazy enough to attempt an escape; after all, the continuous pursuit of greater freedom is in human nature and beyond.
To Shed, the people in front of him had to be some of those crazy individuals seeking to escape.
'It must be so, my theory must be right…'
However, as soon as he accepted his theory as true, a doubt arose spontaneously in his mind: why had such a theory come to him almost instinctively?
'It must have been my desire to get out of here that planted it in my mind…'
Shed felt that he was slowly getting used to life inside the Colosseum, partly due to his packed daily schedule, which left him little time to dwell on such issues. Yet, almost every evening, a strong desire for freedom, combined with a longing to uncover his past, made him fall asleep with a slight sense of unease.
'Maybe it's this desire that's making me take for granted that this theory is correct…'
Shed gave himself time to respond, trying to find a hint of reason amidst the whirlwind created by his desires.
'And what if all this is just a ploy by the Colosseum to find out if I have any escape plans?'
After thinking that, Shed called himself foolish.
It couldn't be; he wasn't yet worth that much effort from the Colosseum. If they had wanted to know something like that from him, they would have probably used less convoluted methods.
"Why are you asking me such a question?"
The core of uncertainty remained in the young man's mind, prompting him to respond with another question.
"You should know that the four of us are part of an organization whose goal is to get out of here."
The response from the man at the head of the table was so direct that it left Shed almost speechless.
"We wanted to ask if you would like to be a part of it," he added.
Shed's heart began to beat rapidly, making clear thinking difficult.
He wanted to accept the proposal instantly, but the small amount of reason he had left pushed him to take a more cautious approach.
"How can I trust your words? You know my name, and you've probably seen my information and maybe even some of my duels… but I know nothing about you…"
The man at the head of the table turned to look at the large, muscular alien to his left. The latter nodded.
"He seems trustworthy," he said in a deep, raspy voice, slowly removing the mask from his face.
The others watched him for a few seconds, then took off their masks as well, finally revealing their full faces.
Initially, their actions surprised Shed. However, it all happened too quickly.
Did they already trust him enough to show their faces?
'They removed their masks right after that big guy did… could he actually be the one in charge? Or… does he have some kind of skill that allows him to judge people?'
To Shed, the second option seemed more likely, but only because when observing the man at the head of the table, Shed felt much more intimidated than when looking at the large figure. Thus, instinctively, even after recent events, to Shed he remained the most probable leader.
Assuming there was someone in charge among them.
With their faces now uncovered, Shed observed them again, one by one, paying special attention to their eyes. After all, it is said that the eyes are the window to the soul, isn't it?
He began by observing the large man to his right. He had two rows of blue eyes, similar in shape to human eyes but slightly rounder. The first pair of eyes were placed just above the nose and were close together, while the second pair, positioned a bit higher, had a significant interpupillary distance. His gaze conveyed deep serenity.
Shed then moved on to the strange alien to his left. Her two dark orange eyes without pupils showed no emotion.
Then he looked at the human gladiator sitting at the head of the table. He stared at Shed with a serious and determined look. His light green eyes, deep and piercing, seemed capable of reading into the depths of Shed's soul.
Shed also turned to look at Flora, curious to see if she had removed her mask as well. Indeed, she had removed it, revealing her beautiful almond-shaped black eyes and her delicate face. Shed didn't just stop at her eyes but especially noted her hair. They had changed from short and green to long, black, and straight, with bangs that covered her entire forehead.
Considering what he was going through, Shed wasn't too surprised by the fact that she had hidden her true appearance not only with the mask but also by changing the appearance of her hair.
The four then proceeded to introduce themselves.
The first to state his name was the man at the head of the table, who introduced himself as Vaus. Then, the large blue man spoke, introducing himself as Gonorot. The third was the floating alien, who, "speaking" with an unnaturally ethereal voice, introduced herself as Xhia. Finally, the girl behind Shed also introduced herself, but not as Flora; she introduced herself as Alice.
'So she had also used a false name… and maybe these names they just told me are also false…'
"If you think we're lying, you can check with your bracelet…" Vaus said, as if reading Shed's mind, pointing to Shed's right wrist.
Shed didn't need to be told twice, immediately using the Rank-Tio function on his bracelet to search for the four gladiators in the room with him.