Chapter 344 Garcia’s Teammates

Garcia led the group down the street. Lee Seng kept up with Garcia's pace as he hummed away. The intersecting street at the end of this street was coming up as Garcia made a turn, walking through the heated pathway up to the steps of the home, pulling out keys from his coat pocket and opening the screen door open.

Lee Seng stood at the bottom step, taking in the home. It definitely fit with the 3rd Year aesthetic. Garcia unlocked the door, heat rushing out as he opened the door. The sound of music blaring greeted Lee Seng and the others as Garcia turned to look at Lee Seng.

"Garcia, where did you go? You never answered any of my texts. You better have a good reason for th–" A female voice called out. Before Garcia could even tell Lee Seng to wait, a brunette woman came to the door. She was in a fluffy pink sweater and wore pants. She noticed the group behind Garcia and gave him a surprised look.

"Hey, Anna." Garcia greeted. "I was just down the street with my friends." He moved out of the way to show Lee Seng and the others.

"Hiya." Lee Seng waved. "Sorry to keep you worried. Garcia wanted to see my team's home."

"Oh? Is this the one you talked about getting that haunted house in the middle to the left?" Anna asked Garcia.

"Yup. It's them."

"Ahh! Why don't you guys come in then?" Anna motioned. She started to move and open the door wider as Garcia spoke up.

"They're gonna go get pizza and I was wond-wondering if you guys wanted some." Garcia explained.

"Oh." Anna slowly nodded.

"Anna, you're letting the heat out! It's cold!" A male's voice complained.

"Garcia, get inside! It's cold!" Another male voice spoke up.

"What's going on here?" A female voice asked. Three more people popped out from whereever they were and noticed Garcia and Anna and then the strangers.

"Why's the Creator son at our doorstep?" A blue haired guy asked.

"Yeah, why's he here? And who's all of those people? Are they your friends, Garcia?" A pink haired girl asked.

"They're Garcia's friends. Well, the Creator's son at least." Anna reminded them like they all heard about it before. Lee Seng gave a wave.

"We're gonna wait over here!" Evan shouted at Lee Seng. Lee Seng turned to see his friends moving out of the property and moving left. Ritsuka popped out of the crowd and made his way over to Garcia and Lee Seng.

"Okay." Lee Seng gave them a thumbs up.

"Garcia asked if we wanted to go with him and his friends to eat pizza." Anna informed the rest of the group.

"Ooo, pizza at Nine's?!?" The blind guy asked, interested. "Can we go?" He looked at the others.

"I was about to make dinner but pizza works. Who's paying?" The blue haired guy asked.

"I can pay for it." Garcia told them. His friends looked at him like they didn't think he would say that.

"You're tight on money. You shouldn't pay." The pink haired girl told him. "I thought you were gonna stretch it til next week. You wanna do an odd job again?"

"I can pay for y'all." Lee Seng told them. Garcia and his group mates looked at him.

"You don't have to do th-that." Garcia told him. Lee Seng shook his head.

"We haven't seen each other for a while. Let's just go out and get cheap pizza. It's fine." Lee Seng insisted. Garcia looked at his group mates.

"You decide." The blue haired guy told Garcia. "He's your friend. You choose. He pays or I'll pay for it." Garcia turned to face Lee Seng, giving one last look at the blue haired guy before focusing his attention on Lee Seng.

"Well…" Garcia began to say when Ritsuka interjected.

"Doesn't he owe you have favor anyways?" Ritsuka asked. Garcia and Lee Seng gave him the same strange relook and Ritsuka continued. "You two made a bet in class on day. Whoever did better in the lesson had the other one owe a favor. You could use the favor, Garcia."

"Oh, that." Garcia nodded. "I-I didn't think yo-you we're se-serious."

"I was." Lee Seng nodded, fully remembering the bet. "Let's do that then. I'll pay for you."

"O-o-okay… I guess. Let's go, guys?" Garcia looked at his group mates.

"Sure. We'll introduce ourselves when we get to the place, alright? Don't want your friends to get cold." Anna told Lee Seng and Ritsuka.

"Sure. More the merrier." Ritsuka smiled.

Fifteen Minutes Later…

"These are my teammates." Garcia pointed at his friends. "The guy with blue hair is our leader, Cai. The brunette next to me is Anna. The blonde guy is Ethan and the pink haired girl is Emma."

"Team CAGEE if you wanna call us by a team name." Ethan quickly added.

"Ethan!" Emma swatted at the blonde boy. "We're not team CAGEE for the billionth time!"

"It's so funny to hear it every time." Cai chuckled.

"Cai! You really like it too?" Emma asked.

"It's just funny. It'll never be our actual team name but it's a good ice breaker." Cai chuckled. Manny and Evan were helping some servers out some tables together.

"So who's sitting where?" Manny asked.

"Ritsuka and I will sit with Garcia." Lee Seng told them.

"I guess I'll go over with them." Cai pointed. "Come on, Emma. You're coming with me." Cai dragged Emma off as Ethan turned to follow.

"I wanna go too!" Ethan followed after.

"I guess I'll stay with you guys." Anna commented. They moved to sit at the end of the combined tables. Olivia moved over to join them as the rest piled into the large set of tables.

"Can we order any drinks?" Evan asked Lee Seng.

"Whatever you want. It's on me." Lee Seng answered. The group began to order drinks and Lee Seng told them to pick some pizza with pepperoni included.

"Garcia said he met y'all in Fighter class." Anna instantly started the conversation. Ritsuka and Lee Seng nodded.

"Yeah, we partnered with him the first day there. He's actually really good with that afterimage ability of his." Ritsuka complimented Garcia. Lee Seng watched Garcia try to shrink in his chair. Anna chuckled and pulled him up.

"Take a compliment, dude." Anna patted him. "Did you see him in battle, yet? You've fought against him, right, Lee Seng?"

"I have." Lee Seng nodded. "His power has delayed effects. It can be annoying when you're fighting against him for the first couple of times."

"How'd you fare?"

"He almost got wiped by how quick Garcia was." Ritsuka told her. "Garcia has quick reaction times. I'm shocked that his lanky build is able to pull off hard hits." Ritsuka punched at the air as Garcia tried to hide how red his face was getting.

"Yo-you don't have to compliment me so much… I'm not that good." Garcia told them.

"What did we say about that habit of yours? Don't sell yourself short, Xavier." Anna elbowed him.

"Here's your drinks." The server smiled and set down their drinks. Lee Seng looked for his drink but didn't see his.

"Where's my fruit punch?" Lee Seng asked. Olivia slid the lemon water at him.

"You ordered lemon water, dude." Olivia told him.

"You okay?" Ritsuka asked him.

'I could've sworn I–'

'You ordered lemon water, dude. You don't remember?' A strange voice spoke in his head.

"What?" Lee Seng looked around.

"What's wrong?" Olivia asked. Lee Seng focused his attention onto Olivia and the others. He scratched his head and shook his head. He pulled one of the straws, puncturing the straw through it's paper cover and slipping it into his drink.

He took a sip of the lemon water confused by what just happened.

"N-nothing. I think I'm just exhausted and hearing things." Lee Seng shrugged it off. Olivia and Ritsuka slowly nodded.

"Don't push yourself too hard. If you need to go early, I'll handle the bill." Ritsuka patted Lee Seng.

"N-no, I'm fine. I must've blanked when I ordered the lemon water." He told them. He slowly moved his straw clockwise in the lemon water, staring into it.

'Lee Seng, is everything alright?' His reflection asked with a red and blue eye. He jumped in his spots moving away from his drink.

'What the hell was that?' Lee Seng wondered.

"You sure you're fine?" Liz asked. She had been watching him from the left side of Lee Seng after he seemed genuinely confused by his drink not being right. "Do you need to go back and rest some more?"

"N-no… I…" Lee Seng stuttered. He moved to peer into his cup of lemon water. He saw his reflection looking back at him. No red and blue eyes peered at him. He could barely even see his reflection. "I…"

"Alright, I got a bunch of plates here for y'all. Could you pass them down for me, please?" The server handed Cai plates and he began to send them down the row. "Thank you dear."

"No problem." Cai nodded.

"Your pizzas will come up shortly. I'll probably set them off to the side on this table right here, kay?"

"Thanks so much." Manny nodded at her.

"No problem, dear. Let me know if you need anything. Don't be afraid to holler." She gave them all a warm smile before turning and entering the kitchen, again.