Chapter 185 – The Third Part

Bzzt Bzzt

Yuna glanced down at her wrist. Her watch was buzzing, notifying her to a received message. She collapsed the screen she was reading and tapped on the shaking mail icon on her watch.

Meeting today in one hour. Make sure to bring some snacks~ It might be a long one >.>

‘Uriel wrote this, didn’t she,’ Yuna thought as she read the message. ‘There’s no way Yuki made this.’

She pushed herself up from her chair and went to her room to change. It was the weekend, so she hadn’t bothered to change out of her pajamas. Throwing on a few pieces of clothing, she drank a cup of water before leaving her dorm room. In the hallway, she noticed someone waving to her. It was one of her hallmates.

“Heading out?” the hallmate asked.

“Yes,” Yuna nodded with a small smile. “You too?”

“No,” the hallmate replied, shaking her head. “I’m going to visit someone. Have fun.”

“Thanks.”

They waved goodbye to each other and Yuna went to the elevator. It brought her down to the first floor where she nodded towards the dorm receptionist bade her farewell. She glanced at her watch as she walked. There was still around forty more minutes before the meeting was scheduled to start.

She walked down the streets until she reached a bar that she was now extremely familiar with. The moment she entered, the servers greeted her with a wide smile and a few of the regular customers raised their glasses towards her. She greeted back in return and went to the bar where the bartender gave her a nod.

“What would you like for today?” the man asked, placing down a glass he was wiping with a towel. “A quick snack or a drink?”

“Not today,” Yuna replied, shaking her head. “I’m here to meet up with a few people. Did you see them come by?”

“No, sorry,” the bartender said. “They didn’t pass through here today. Maybe they’re already there.”

“Maybe. I’ll be checking then. See you later.” She waved.

“You too,” the man nodded. 

She went to the hallway and peek around to make sure no one was watching. When she made sure that it was clear, she pushed on a panel of the wall and opened the door to the small transporter room. 

“Hey, Yuna~” Uriel said the moment she stepped inside. “Going to the meeting already?”

“It’s starting in thirty or so minutes,” she replied. “I like being early.”

“I’m sure Yuki likes that. Let’s get you going now, why don’t we?”

The metal plate that rested on the ground lit up with a bright white light. Yuna stepped on it and waited as a faint hum gradual began to fill the air. Then the light flashed, blinding her briefly, before disappearing to reveal a glass tube around her. The tube opened and she walked out.

“Have fun~” Uriel’s voice chimed.

“Aren’t you going to be a part of the meeting as well?” Yuna asked, tilting her head. 

“Of course. But I can still tell you to have fun can’t I?”

“I guess. It’s in the meeting room?”

“That’s where Yuki is right now,” Uriel replied. “So I would think so. Unless he made the meeting room his office without telling me.”

“Alright then. I’ll going there then.” Yuna began to walk down the hall.

“Oh, I don’t think you’ll be able to go in right now,” Uriel said. “The door is locked and I just remembered that Boss told me to not let anyone yet.”

“Why?” Yuna asked, slowing down her pace.

“I dunno. From what I hear, he’s calling someone so he probably doesn’t want to be interrupted. Boss doesn’t normally take that long when calling people so he should be done pretty soon.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you.”

She continued her walk and stopped right outside the meeting room. The glass walls of the room were frosted today and the door was completely shut. 

‘He must have really wanted privacy today. I wonder who he’s talking to.’

She sat down on a small yet comfortable bench that was placed next to the walls of the hallway leading to the meeting room. Checking the time, there was still a little over twenty minutes left before the scheduled start of the meeting. 

‘I'll just wait then.’

She leaned back and placed her hands between her thighs as she bounced her feet up and down. She stared at a nondescript crack that formed at the junction of the glass walls of the meeting room and the floor. Her mind began to wander as she mused over the possible identity of this unknown caller.

“Yuna?” a voice said, breaking through her thoughts. “You’re here already?”

Yuna blinked and took a peek at her watch. Five minutes had passed. Locating the source of the voice, she saw Akira standing at the doorway of the meeting room which was now open. 

“Yes. Is Yuki done?” she asked.

“Ah, yeah, he’s done,” Akira nodded. “Did you wait long? We didn’t mean for anyone to be waiting for that long.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Do you need something to drink? I can get you some water if you would like.”

“Really, I’m fine. Thank you,” Yuna smiled. Over the last few months, she found that Akira was extremely thoughtful, especially towards Yuki, Erica, and herself. “Why were you in there with Yuki?”

“It was a group call,” Akira explained. “Erica is in there as well.”

“I heard my name,” Erica said as her head popped out from the meeting room. “Oh, hey Yuna~. Were you waiting for us?”

“Just for a little bit,” Yuna replied.

“Well, we’re done so come on in.” Erica gave her a big smile before disappearing back into the meeting room. 

Akira gestured towards her to come and went back inside as well. Yuna stood up from her seat on the bench and followed them in. When she walked in, she found Yuki standing up and stretching. 

“Yuna, hi,” Yuki greeted when he saw her. “You’re here already? We still have twenty, well now nineteen minutes before the start of the meeting.”

“I was nearby when I received the notification for the meeting,” she explained. “So I decided to come.”

Yuki scanned her, his eyes going up and down.

“Just came from the dorm?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well, just wait for a bit then. Nineteen minutes should pass relatively quickly.”

Yuna nodded and took a seat at the meeting table, the hovering chair bouncing up and down a bit. Yuki began talking to Erica and Akira in a low voice, his mouth hidden behind the two. Yuna couldn’t quite hear what he was saying, but it sounded like they were just talking about a project of some sort. 

Some time later, Damian walked in holding a bagel. Yuna frowned and glanced up at the clock. There were still a few minutes before the meeting was to start. Yuki greeted Damian who nodded in return.

“I did some more work on the thing,” Damian said. “If you want to check it out later, feel free.”

“Damian, you’re early,” Erica said with a small smile. “Did it start raining in the Frier Lands as well?”

“Haha,” he replied. “Boss told me about the meeting an hour before it actually happened in person. There would be no way I would be late.”

More time passed before Zoe and Tiar walked in as well. Sarah followed them just a few seconds later. They took their seats and waited quietly for the meeting to begin. Yuki was staring at the clock, watching the seconds tick by.

“11:00. Let’s begin, shall we?” Yuki said. “I’m sure all of you know what this meeting is for, right?”

“The jewels?” Yuna asked.

“Yes,” he nodded. “The jewels. And the plan. We’ve finished part of the second step of the plan which was locating elemental jewels. We’ve found a few of them.”

“Which ones?” Damian said, stroking his chin. 

“Two for now,” Yuki replied. “The first one is the naturae gem that Zoe was tasked with locating. She’s completed that and we’ll be dealing with that one at a later date. The one that we’ll be discussing today is the second one we found. That one is of a wind attribute.”

“Wind?” Tiar said, raising his eyebrow. “Those are rare. Where is it?”

“It’s inside the private collection of a rich family,” Yuki said. “They recently got a hold of it. Luckily, Erica knew the person who sold the gem to them. So that’s why we know they have it.”

He tapped the table and summoned a number of holographic screens. Scanning them, he focused on one and expanded it. It was a file case.

“Today, we’ll be discussing the plan to retrieve this jewel,” he continued. “So be prepared to move soon.”

“We’re going to steal it?” Yuna asked.

“Of course,” he nodded. “Technically, they don’t have it legally speaking. So who cares if we take it for ourselves. Now let’s begin. I hope you all have some formal clothes.”

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