"So who wants to go next?" Mary interrupted the tense atmosphere.
Chise raised her hand, "I guess I'll go next..."
============
"Mine starts with my family." Chise started.
"My family is quite large in the entertainment and commerce industries, so alliances have to be made." She sighed.
"Despite strength being the most prevalent for gaining power, influence can also be gained from wealth or popularity, and those can't be easily beaten down without backlash."
After she said this, the waiter came in and delivered their drinks, "Food will take a bit longer."
Now with her drink, she sighed and took a big gulp, surprising her audience.
"PUHAaa-" She wiped her mouth, "I needed that! My mouth was getting dry."
"Ahem," She cleared her throat, "Where was I... Right power and stuff."
"Ok so my thing was where I was in a situation in which I would be forced into a marrige alliance for my family as the only daughter, and it was for the right to work." She was mad now, "Some big player started slandering us, making us seem bad and untrusted."
"How'd you fix that?" Sakura was curious.
"I'm getting to that!" She scolded, "Don't interrupt, it's rude."
"Anyways, to get out there was three options." She held up her index finger,
"One: Run away, which I couldn't do because I'm weak." She raised her middle finger.
"Two: Marry someone else, I can't do cuz I can't fall in love that easily." She raised her ring finger.
"Three: Overpower the opponent in a bet or challenge, this was the most feasible." She put her hand down.
"Do to me not accepting the marriage, I challenge the heir of the other guys to a gamble off." She smiled, "We each start with 500 credits, the person with the most by the end of the week wins."
"I see that you always end up using games to win in suboptimal situations." Fen couldn't help but comment as the others stared at her, "What, we all end up without our memories during the test." She shrugged.
Chise rolled her eyes and continued, "Anyways, I won with the opponent taking to many risks as they kept coming up to me asking how much I've won so far." She swirled her drink, "I guess he got pressured by my nonchalance attitude."
"And that's how I got out of the situation." She leaned back, "Confidence is key for this stuff."
By some miraculous timing, the waiter returned with their food. "Enjoy everyone."
With that, they left just as quickly as they came.
"Smells delicious!" Sakura rubbed her hands together.
"Seems so." Fen agreed, picking up her fork and knife.
"I wonder if I could eat all of mine?" Mary looked at her steak the size of her body.
Sakura was about to dig in when suddenly-
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN ALL OCCUPIED!" A voice echoed.
"These rooms are soundproof," Chise looked shocked, "Unless it's a dragon or someone really loud, sound can't reach the room."
"Why dragons?" Sakura asked, looking to her tail.
Chise answered calmly, "We don't know much, as dragons are very solitary, but some say it's some power in their voice."
"Huh..." Sakura thought back to the heart she ate, not recalling any knowledge about this, 'Maybe I have to be taught it?' She thought to herself.
"I'ma turn off the soundproofing," Chise smiled mischievously, "I wanna eavesdrop."
"Good idea." Sakura agreed and the others just shrugged and went along with it.
"Sorry, the last room was taken not less than an hour ago." The waiter from before continued rejecting the man.
"Who was the peasant that you let in!?" He questioned.
"They may have not had a reservation, however they are guests that have a reserved room for always." The waiter stood firm.
"Who could possibly have that in this place!?" He complained.
"Whatever, I'm going and taking that room for myself!" He pushed pass.
"I wouldn't recommend that." The waiter chased after them.
*step step tsep STEP STEP!*
*BANG*
The person slammed on their door.
"OPEN UP!" He called.
Chise got up and put on her serious face.
"Who might you be." She opened the door to a man with red rough horns and slit eyes along with scales on their hands, clearly a man of the dragon variety.
When the man saw her face, they were stunned, but snapped out of it quickly, "Hello, care to join for a few drinks." He put on a lecherous grin as if nothing happened.
Chise's expression could now only be described as 'RUN FOR YOUR LIFE' when she opened the door.
"Is that a yes?" He scoffed.
*SLAP*
Just as the waiter came up, he saw quite the sight as the man was bitch slapped and fell to floor, cheeks bleeding from her claws.
"Who do you think you are!?" He was enraged and touching his face as the scratches rapidly healed.
"I should be asking you that, barging into my family's restaurant and into our room!" Chise scolded as they got up.
"He seems like a dragon to me, but he could be a wyvern." Sakura mocked.
He looked to her, now even more mad, "You stupid brat-"
He cut himself off when she saw her features and suddenly bowed.
"Apologies! I'll leave now!" He smiled and ran with his tail between his legs, literally.
Chise looked to Sakura, "What was that about?"
"Don't know." She shrugged and leaned back.
"..." Chise squinted her eyes at her, but didn't say anything and just sat down after turning the sound block back on.
"So who will go next?" Mary asked.
"I guess I will, mine's short." Fen offered.
"Mine starts off when I was a pup, during the time I was different as I grew faster than the others and the fact I am a hermaphrodite, I got excluded a lot." She took a sip of her drink.
"Because I was growing better than others, those already stronger wanted to suppress me.
I fought back as much as I could, however just pure strength can't win against multiple opponents, so I learned to be smarter in my fights and eventually I beat up their leader and ended the test."
"... Your right, that was fast." Sakura said, exasperated.
Fen nodded and finished her drink.
"..." Eyes turned to Sakura.
"What?" She looked away.
"No getting out of this." Chise smiled, but it wasn't convincing.
"Fine..." Sakura gave in with the pressure.
"Mine starts when I first gained a conscience as a living being." She started.
"When I first woke up, I was in a wilderness of lush trees, however there was also a girl named Lily." She smiled a little.
"She was a bundle of joy, and I took her dna when I met her, getting her traits as well as those of the human species."
"What do mean? Why'd you separate them between her and her species?" Chise asked.
"Because she was special, she had horns like mine, and it's also what got her pushed away by others." Sakura answered.
"Anyways, she gave me the name 'Sakura' from cherry blossoms, a tree that bloomed in the spring and only the spring." She took a drink.
"We enjoyed each others company, her joyfulness rubbed off on me, my composure and calculating attitude did the same for her." She laughed a little.
"Right, when I copied her appearance she made me become more unique, so she made my hair pink and my breasts larger, "In the name of individuality" She said." She smiled, recalling her happiness of her customization.
"Where were we... Right, after making my body I lived with her in her shack. Over the years of living with her, I fixed up the place and in exchange she taught me about the world."
"As she grew older, I didn't." The others came to the same realization, "Time stops for nobody, and soon her time came." A tear formed.
"When she was on her deathbed, she gave me a speech about perseverance, about how I would lose my shine for a bit but I should always get it back." Tears flowed, "It took me too long for me to remember her."
The others, seeing her state, hugged her.
"It's ok, as beings of the HUB, we don't age like that." Chise comforted.
"We won't leave." Fen hugged her tighter.
"Hehe..." She wiped her tears, "Thanks."
(To be continued)