Races: Online (VR Smartphone App)

Chapter 123: Lunch Date?

It was jam-packed. Despite agreeing to find a larger table to occupy, there were still a lot of people and they were all squeezed together. Except for Sir Leon de Harrington, people were giving him enough elbow room but it felt like he was being packed in a can of tuna.

But could he really blame anyone?

Maybe he was thinking too hard now when most people wouldn't even give a passing thought to this. Han tried to bring his fork into his mouth and nearly stabbed himself as somebody bumped shoulders with him—and he regretted his action as he placed it down for a moment and eyed the guy he was sitting next to.

It was Diov, now he wasn't wearing his gauntlets but he kept moving and bumping into him accidentally. And on his right side was a girl. He wasn't sure if the young woman got the short end of the stick and ended up seated beside him, but he didn't know her and he was trying not to tumble close to her and knock the glass out of her hand.

He might have been good with a small group of friends but this scenario just made him feel uneasy as the table was long enough that two or three conversations could happen at once and he just wanted to eat his lunch in peace and head out.

Now it felt like Timothy managed to get away, speaking of which—it was only Ellynn by their table now. Both Timothy and Kai were nowhere to be seen and that left a completely alone Mage to eat all by her lonesome.

He was hesitant in leaving the table now though to join her. It would bring up a series of questions and he was happy enough to squash his desire of having more ample room if it meant that it didn't bring about certain problems to him and he would end up better in the long run. 

But did Timothy seriously have to leave them all alone? The guy already went to his room for breakfast and lunch as well? He glanced down at his meal of bread, some kind of meat he couldn't identify and a slice of a strangely colored blue fruit. "Alright, screw it." He grabbed his plate and stood up.

"—Are you alright Han?" Somehow despite being located in a somewhat far spot from him and currently engaged in a conversation, Sir Leon de Harrington was able to notice the exact time he had stood up.

If that wasn't some creepy Noble skill then he didn't know what that was, some of the other students cocked a brow at him while others paid more attention with their own food. 

"Where ya going buddy?" Diov asked.

"I'm not your—I just forgot that I promised to sit with somebody else today." That was a lie but he wanted to get away as quickly as possible.

"I see, well, why don't you just invite them to the table?" Sir Harrington didn't see anything wrong with it as he gave them a smile.

Han tried to keep his face blank but felt the corner of his lips twitch at the thought, "I don't think Ellynn would be comfortable to be here." 

It was more of—everyone here wouldn't be comfortable as well. 

The expression on the Noble faltered for a moment, "May the two of you have a good lunch then, my apologies for stalling you for too long." Sir Leon de Harrington replied with a small smile.

Even this young man was afraid of upsetting the status quo.

Giving him a nod, Han stepped out of the table and headed towards Ellynn's table. It wasn't like Han was expecting that the young Lord would be willing to invite her back to the table but… actually, he kind of was hoping that would have been the case.

Sure, he and probably Ellynn wouldn't want to sit with a full group of students—but it would have spoken more for Sir Leon de Harrington's character than anything.

He found the Half Elf eating by herself, once again with the cloak over her head, didn't she ever feel too uncomfortable wearing something like that? He cleared his throat, "Is this chair occupied?"

She paused for a moment and she seemed to stare at the empty chairs in front of her, "They're occupied by ghosts."

"W-What?" Han blinked before he managed a chuckle. He hoped he could convince her, it would be hella awkward for him to say that he was supposed to sit with her but didn't even end up doing that. "You're not serious right?"

"What if I was?"

Han Jing wasn't prepared for dealing with ghosts. And he wasn't sure if ghosts counted as a Race or something like that, but he scratched the back of his head. "You might enjoy having some human company rather than a ghost though?"

"That...that's not usually the case. But feel free to sit, I won't stop you." She said at last.

Han grinned as he plopped down on his seat, "Great, thanks! I mean on the last part though, not the first part. People can be a bunch of jerks sometimes, usually. Er, it depends but I'm sure you know that right?"

She chose to stay silent and continued to eat.josei

Maybe he needed to polish his social skills again. It didn't matter if it was as Han Jing or as Han—he blurted way too much for his liking. Although there were indeed times where he needed to speak up. Shaking his head, Han began to actually eat his lunch. Well, he picked up the slice of blue fruit first and eyed it, "This is…" It was too large to be a blueberry and the texture reminded him more of a peach.

"Ocean Plum," Ellynn spoke up as she continued to eat on her own.

Han quirked a brow, but took a bite and chewed. His taste buds exploded at the burst of cool and sweet liquid in his mouth, he swallowed and looked at his plate of meat. He should have saved the fruit slice for dessert, he cleared his throat and glanced at the Half Elf, "It's not salty." Why would a fruit underneath the ocean not be salty? Han Jing had a lot of questions—and they were probably good ones.

"Perhaps you should ask your Mermaid friend," Ellynn replied and though her face was still cloaked over, her green eyes seemed to glow at the remark.

Han managed to laugh and glance around, nobody was in earshot but it still made him cautious. She didn't exactly look pleased at bringing it up and he had a feeling why that was the case. In the end he scratched his cheek, "Er, we're not close… and sorry about last night. It was a sudden decision to make her sing that time."

"I-It's fine, you did what you had to do."

It seemed like she was opening up a bit and he was glad of that, Han began to slice the slab of meat on his plate as he thought about what else to ask, it seemed weird to ask about her dad so that was a no, maybe something about class? He ended up kicked out by Professor Carnus—until he realized that he could probably ask Ellynn on what had happened with Timothy and Kai coming over here.

Should he though?

He was hypocrite when he told Sir Leon that he trusted Timothy wouldn't be influenced and that the guy could do whatever he wanted. Han was terribly curious why they ended up talking with Ellynn either. Surely she wouldn't find any fault for him asking right?

He had to ask it in a way that didn't seem too suspicious though or placed her in a bad spot. He coughed slightly,

"Hey, Ellynn, a while back I noticed that Timothy and some other person came here. Did they bother you or something? I can knock Tim's head for you if they made you uncomfortable or something." He tilted his head at her.

If she didn't choose to answer—

"...it wasn't Timothy. The Mage apparently thought I was pretty and wanted to befriend me, he thought that perhaps with your friend being a classmate of mine, it would be much easier to get to know me. I believe they were a third year student." She replied as she sipped a glass of water.

Han wanted to slap a hand over his face, he forgot to bring his own glass and he really wanted to drink a shot now, some alcohol. This was probably the longest sentence he had heard from her and he wasn't sure what to answer to that. Timothy was some kind of wingman now?

It must have sucked being coerced to that.

Still…

"I mean you really are pretty—and talented too. Let's not forget about that." Han answered and barely saved himself from being seen as a knucklehead idiot. Back in his university days experience of listening in to girls and not to mention that the city he was in, most young women he encountered would balk at simply being referred to as pretty.

That memory wasn't exactly the most pleasant one.

"...thank you," Ellynn said at last as she placed her empty glass down. It didn't seem like she truly believed his words or perhaps she wasn't comfortable at such expressions.

It was kind of a sad thing. Han coughed and motioned to the meat on his plate, "You don't have to thank me for it, but can you identify what this piece of meat is? Is this some Flaming Seahorse Steak or something?"

It was much better to talk about food.