The male officer had set down severals bowls of rice, bowls of warm soup, cups of hot green tea, pickled radishes, sweetened eggs (tamagoyaki), fried tofu, roasted pieces of pork.
The last, and main part of the meal came to the table soon after. Fillets of grilled salmon were set down; one per seat.
”Alright, please everyone, enjoy your meal” the warm Tanaka invited everyone to the table as he went back into the kitchen.
Ryuusei was more than glad to sit down at the table, waiting patiently until everyone else had taken their seat and thanked for the food, before reaching out for a bowl of soup. All the food here was amazing, so tasty it made his mouth water just by thinking of it.
The soup itself felt like it was sent from heaven, that's how good it was. He made a mental note to thank Tanaka for all the amazing food
Kaito’s eyes came lighting up when he tasted the roasted pork. It might have been delicious, yes, but he was blown away by how soft and tender the meat was.
So Tanaka’s amazing in the kitchen… good to know… he thought as he continued with his meal.
Somehow, Kaito finished his meal first and way before anyone else.
”Whoops…” he said softly as Tanaka who came to refill the drinks let out a soft chuckle.
Koki almost devoured her food, licking her lips happily. "This is soo good!" She exclaimed as soon as she finished, taking a sip from her water glass. Her family may make good food, but this was awesome! It was different from what she usually ate, which was probably part of the appeal.
The male officer laughed a little when he saw Kaito’s and Koki’s expressions and reactions to his food.
He walked over to Koki after he had refilled the eighth judge’s cup of tea.
”Would you want more tea as well?” he asked with a warm smile and an equally warm tone.
"No, thank you, sir! My cup is still full." Koki declined, smiling widely in response to the smile sent her way. "If you have the time sir, could you teach me how to cook like this? I really only know Italian recipes and how to make grilled cheese."
”Well of course, I’d be more than willing to” the male officer agreed before he walked over to Kaito who had requested more tea.
Soon after, a knock came from the doors of the mansion.
The male officer turned to the female officer, both with confused looks.
”Who could that be?” the female asked as the male shook his head.
”Can you go answer the door for me?” the male requested as the female nodded and walked over, not yet opening the door.
From the looks of it, the officers weren’t expecting anyone else here at this time.
Ryuusei was almost done with his rice bowl when he heard the knock.
He raised his head to look in the direction of the officers, who were already on their way to the door, a few grains of rice stuck to the corner of his mouth. Noticing the subtle tension in the air, he exchanged looks with the others, his eyes holding an unspoken question. When he received a negative nod from the others, he returned to his bowl, quickly noming what was left.
As Ayumi opened the door, a cold and chilly gust of strong wind came blowing into the mansion. It wasn’t of the mist, it was of the guest who came returned ahead of the schedule.
”Lord Taishan!” the female officer gasped out and she bowed greeting the woman. At that moment, nothing was worth mentioning of the woman just yet as she had a long blue cloak covering her body and face.
(That's the seventh judge, right?)
(Yep)
Ryuusei put down the bowl, letting out a big sigh - the breakfast was wonderful, better than anything he's ever had in his whole life.
Having finished eating, he turned his attention back to where he'd last seen the officers, wondering what was going on and who was the new guest.
The newcomer came into the dining room and opened her hood, revealing a long blonde haired girl with dark blue eyes. Her face was quite adorable and doll-like for a person whose lifespan surpassed that of many ancient structures. The rest of her body was covered with the cloak but if anyone was to guess, it would probably have been a judge’s uniform and perhaps with the same shade as her cloak.
”Greetings visitors, I am the seventh judge, Taishan, pleasure to make your acquaintance” she greeted with a small bow.
Koki gasped and waved. "Hello, miss! I'm Koki Popoli, it's nice to meet you, ma'am!" She bounced in her seat. She's so pretty! And she looks smart, I can't believe I'm going to be working with her! What even am I going to do? I still need to find a library…
The seventh judge turned to Koki and smiled back.
”You are… the person who I’m going to be accompanying, right?” she asked, not that anyone was gonna answer as she already knew that.
Koki smiled wider in response and nodded, giving a thumbs up. "Yes, ma'am! I'm ready to do whatever we're going to do!" She pushed up her glasses when they started to fall down, kinda ruining her 'I'm super ready to work and I'm definitely serious' look.
Ryuusei had given a small polite bow to the lady when she came in, not getting the chance to say anything due to Koki's cherrful introduction - not that he was eager to talk anyway.
He remained quiet in his seat, watching the two females' word exchange
The new female judge gave Koki a thumbs up and she turned to the officers.
”I can take her to my court now, right?” she asked. The officers nodded and the seventh judge gave them a smile with her teeth showing.
”Well, what are we waiting for then?” she extended her hand to Koki, wanting her to take it.
”In that case—“ the eighth judge stood up ”—we should be going as well” he mentioned as the sixth judge nodded and followed his actions.
”Ryuu-kun, let’s go” Dushi said with absolutely no shame or hesitation but when the sixth judge heard that, he turned to him.
”You call him ‘Ryuu-kun’?”
”Why? Is that wrong?”
”No, no… it’s just that I didn’t expect you of all people to refer to someone in that manner”
”Get used to it light nerd” the sixth and the eighth judge had quite an exchange as Kaito giggled just silently on his own.
”Anyways, thank you Tanaka” the sixth judge brought up before he and Kaito headed for the door. The eighth judge soon followed.
Koki took the hand, trying not to pay attention to her own blood-soaked looking hand. "It's nice to meet you Miss Taishah!" She said, standing up from her seat with another bounce. To anyone watching, it looked like she had drunken three cups of straight caffeine.
The boy felt a bit of warmth in his cheeks when he heard the two judges' word exchange. It felt kinda nice to be called that way. "Ryuu-kun".
It made him feel a little like home, among familiar people, who didn't look down on others as much as the people in his old life did. It was just so pleasant to be part of all this.
As the sixth judge sighed and was the first to head for the door, he stopped at the handle.
”Any of you hear that…?” he asked.
There was actually an eerie noise coming from outside the doors. It sounded like groaning and cursing but to a creepy level it went.
The eighth judge nodded as he walked towards his colleague.
If anything they were worried about the fact that whatever was behind the doors could hurt their visitors.
”On three…?” Dushi asked the sixth judge softly as he nodded.
”One… Two…” they started to turn the handle on their respective side ”—Three” both of the doors flew open and—
A scythe demon was standing in front of the mansion doors, waiting to prey on someone and with that sight, the sixth judge immediately summoned his fan and blew the demon a tad bit away from them.
”You two—“ the eighth judge turned to Kaito and Ryuusei ”—time to show what you’ve learned so far” he stated with a confident smile as he followed the sixth judge.
The seventh judge; Taishan, while holding onto Koki’s hand, looked down to her.
”Perhaps we should go there…” she closed her eyes ”…as soon as possible” when she opened her eyes, it gave out a bright blue color…
The seventh judge and Koki would soon see themselves in what appeared to be an ice rink.
”We’re here” the seventh judge said.
Koki fell against the wall once they were teleported, she almost looked to be shaking. "Are they going to be alright miss? Kaito was just hurt and I'm worried about both of them!"
”Dushi and Diancheng can deal with the demon… though they don’t like to show their ‘real’ powers as… you know, it can be quite destructive if they decided to show it” the seventh judge stated as the plain ice rink started to show forms, creating several ice animals which could move. Cats, dogs, foxes, wolves, hamsters, birds, and so on. They moved around as if they were real animals. The ice were raised to form a crystalline garden with a swing and a bench.
”Please, have a seat” the judge invited as she set herself on the bench.
As soon as the judge's words rung in the air, Ryuusei had stood up, alert and with adrenaline starting to flood his system.
He shot Kaito a glance to make sure the other was in good shape to fight the thing. One of his hands reached for the crescent moon object he'd gotten from the Frozen Mountains, in case he had to use it - even though he wasn't told to carry it, he considered it would be wise to have it on him just in case.
Kaito gave a confident smile as he rushed after the sixth judge. He’s got… something in his hand.
”What the hell did Kurt give you?!” the sixth judge asked, maneuvering around the demon and confusing it along with Dushi.
”Something very nice!” Kaito answered as he jumped up and threw the item in front of him whilst mid-air. The item looked like a silvery metallic cane but as it travelled through the air, it transformed and turned into a medium-sized battle axe which was slammed into the demon’s boney head.
The judges turned to Kaito in confusion as the axe broke the demon’s head.
Kai, though, smiled at this and jumped up from the demon, leaving his axe attached to the demon’s head. He opened his hand in mid-air and the axe started to shake, in the end traveling towards him with the demon attached to it.
”Ryuu! Catch!” he spun around and sent the broken demon towards Ryuusei while holding on tightly to his axe, not letting go of it.