Axel's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he observed her, then he leaned in with anticipation, arms folded .
"Eat first," She said, pouring the brown liquid into a glass cup.
She isn't going anywhere and I'm hungry, he thought, his stomach growling at that second.
Might as well eat something, but what is that, alcohol?
He picked up the cup in front of him and sniffed it. No odor. weird. What's got her so flustered.
"You okay?"
She nodded, "yeah, why?"
"Nothing." He slowly took the cup to his lips, and gulped.
A chill spread from his tongue, like the liquid was draining all the heat out of it. yet at the same time it was refreshing.
Multiple fruits flavors were picked up by his tongue, he couldn't quite describe it.
Normally you'd expect such a mixture to be off, too much ingredients spoil the brew after all.
But it wasn't, the balance was pristine, just at that right spot, a perfect mix of sweet, bitter and sour.
Weird as that sounded, that's what came to his mind.
As he swallowed it, it burned his throat, instantly switching from the cold sensation.
What a weird liquid. He thought as he looked at the brown liquid through the glass.
But it doesn't taste like alcohol, so why is her cheek rosy? He glanced at Amy.
Then he felt it, a heat rising from his abdomen, flaring up going to his peripherals, it felt like his pores had opened allowing air in, producing a cooling effect and at the same time his body felt rejuvenated.
His cheeks turned beet red as he felt a rush of pleasure.
"Now I see why" he muttered relaxing on the chair, taking in the feeling of euphoria.
He gulped another cup and sat back with a satisfactory sigh.
This could be addictive.
A chuckle by Amy, brought him back from his state of euphoria.
"Try the burger," she muttered.
Axel picked it up and carefully examined it, nothing new, just a regular burger, or that's what he thought till he bit it.
As he chewed, his eyes closed, as if trying to shut everything out and focus on the taste.
Is this what they mean by melt in your mouth, his mind went back to food wars.
I can die in peace after tasting this.
No, who am I kidding, if somebody kills me now I'll haunt them forever. You can't take the chance of experiencing this from me.
Amy burst into laughter, "you should see your face," she managed to say in a mocking tone, but Axel couldn't care less, still enjoying his burger.
"Honestly not much is known about the Ginshiki, except by its wielder," She said, munching a burger, "what we know are rumors and speculations, but…" She paused, her tone serious.
"The council has placed it among the five soluneth, world ender anima," Amy paused, letting it sink in.
"But that also makes me wonder."
Axel raised a brow as if asking what.
"Why they haven't sealed it like the others." She finished.
Axel swallowed the last piece of the burger and sat back, "So you're saying something so small can end the world," He asked.
She shrugged, "That's what they soluneth are."
"But what exactly does it do?"
Amy shrugged.
"The soluneth are shrouded in mystery, nothing much is known about them in general."
"But this," she pointed at the katana.
"It's next level, the only certainly known thing about it is the wheel like hilt, nothing else."
Hmm, Axel stroked his chin, it does make sense that you'd hide what in can do, like a trump card of some sort.
"But come to think of it," he raised a brow, "how come something so legendary ended up in an anime, considering the secret society memo and all."
"Beats me," Amy shrugged and gulped the last drop of drink.
She slammed the cup and leaned back with a satisfactory grin, "I guess it's about time, he should be done by now." She stood up.
"So how much is this," Axel asked, hands in pocket.
"Ten…" she paused, "just leave five notes on the table," She said and turned to leave.
"That's worth how much in dollars," Axel asked as he placed five notes.
Amy started counting her fingers, "about a hundred dollars I guess," she answered.
Just five is proportional to hundred dollars, Axel eyes widened as he thought about the potential effects on the world economy, and most importantly how he'd spent hundred dollars on just his stomach.
He looked at the man behind the counter who just smiled at him, an amicable smile which Axel felt was the smile of a robber at this point.
Even though the food was good, wasn't that too much for just burger and wine.
Axel gritted his teeth, jaw tightening, blatant daylight robbery, he was about to say when the bell rang and Amy called out, "you coming,"
Is that why someone whistled? She knew this, Axel realized, looking at Amy who smiled at him and walked out.
He looked back at the old man, "come again," the man said with a grin.
Axel scoffed and stormed out, come again no sh*t, regular burgers are good, or so he thought.
Axel calmly walked towards the corner alone, Amy had somehow disappeared before he got out of the restaurant, his mind going over what he'd learned so far, Zvezdan, how ancient anima society was, and the gishiki.
As he turned the corner, he noticed a man dressed in a blue hooded cloak, leaning against the wall, his attention on his phone, he effortlessly gave off the cool, cold aura.
A spear poking out of his back was what caught Axels attention.
Sure he had seen a lot of people with various weapons and weird things since he got to E town, but this was too cool, the spear had a bluish hue to it, matching with the cloak and the man's blue hair.
That's badass, Axel thought, making mental notes to switch up his fashion.
The man as if noticing his stare, glanced at him, his eyes moving down, scanning him.
Axel quickly looked away, whistling, moving away.
Axel felt a shiver travel up his spine as he heard, "hey," behind him.
Axel took a deep breath and glanced back, the man's attention was now on him.
"That's the Ginshiki katana right?" He asked.
Axel eyes narrowed, he wasn't expecting that.
He suddenly got a sense of deja vu, after all it was a similar question that ended up with a gunman trying to kill him before.
He looked towards the World Greatest Delivery Service (WGDS) building, not too far off, contemplating whether he should run.
He took a deep breath, deciding against it, let's not jump to conclusions.
"You okay?" The man asked with a smile.
"Yeah," Axel answered.
I can't pretend like I don't know what he's talking about, the hilt had already betrayed him, Axel thought, so the best thing to do is…
"Oh this, I've been getting that question a lot lately." he chuckled.
Axel raised the katana and scratched his head, "but sorry to disappoint, it's just for a performance, a prop, I'm an actor you see."
"I see," the man's eyes narrowed, "but it's quite realistic, mind if I check it out, it isn't everyday you see a prop of the gishiki afterall."
Axel paused and looked at his wrist, as if looking at a wrist watch, glad he had a hoodie as he pulled it back a bit.
"I won't mind, but look at that I'm quite late," Axel answered, shaking his head, turning around.
"Perhaps after the show you can see it at the theatre." he said, and started jogging away.
Axel breathed a sigh of relief as he did not hear anything.
But he jerked to a stop, breath hitched as a cold hand landed on his shoulder, holding him in place.
Axel glanced at the hand, he could feel a chill radiating from it, even the fabric of the hoodie couldn't stop it.
"That's not the way to the theatre," the man's voice came from behind him.
"Besides it wouldn't take time, just a look wouldn't hurt." The man reached for the katana.
As his hand made contact.
Thrum!
The katana hummed with energy, then a shockwave pulsed out.
Huh.
Axel turned around to see the man flying back, no he was flung back, one second he was touching the katana, the next he was mid air.
The man flipped and graciously landed on one knee, his hood slipping into place covering his head.
At the same instant, the ground trembled as an the sound of an explosion boomed from the left, a few blocks away.
Axel looked at the rising smoke, a dust cloud over the location of the explosion, the smell of smoke thick in the air.
What is that? He wondered.
But he had bigger problems, his attention turned back to the man as he straightened up and clicked his tongue, his face scrunched up.
He reached for the spear and pulled it out.
"Goddamn Zero, buffon can't even understand what discreet means," the man muttered, looking at the dust cloud.
That's it, Axel thought and spun around, dashing for the WGDS building but his face met with something hard, his momentum working against him as he fell back.
Looking up, there was a wall in front of him, where a few minutes ago there wasn't.
Axel rubbed his bloodied nose looking at the wall, which was transparent, a cold chill coming from it.
This wasn't a normal wall, it was an ice wall, but how, when, was it him, Axel wondered, a sense of unease creeping in.
Looking around, there was no way to pass, the wall seemed to still be growing, curling into a dome shape.
Completely blocking his way to the WGDS, its distorted silhouette visible through the transparent ice.
Axel unsheathed the katana and stood up, ready to cut the ice.
"That won't work," the man's chilling voice came from behind him.
"You aren't going anywhere," Axel glanced over his shoulder, noticing a trail of ice leading from the wall to the man's spear lodged in the ground.