Chapter 339 Cherry's 'Disappearance'

"Achoo~!" Shiroi sneezed out of nowhere, causing Aira and Emma to flinch.  "Excuse me, someone's probably talking about me."

"That, or Satoshi's probably talking to another woman right now," Emma muttered to herself. In her home planet, they have a different belief when it comes to someone sneezing. She didn't say it out loud, though, since she didn't want Shiroi to overthink. Initially, she had thought of teasing her, but then she opted to remain quiet since nothing good would come of it.

On the other hand, Aira heard everything and stared at Emma with her mouth in the shape of an 'o'. Seeing her facial expression, Emma immediately vehemently shook her head, fully knowing that Aira was this close to telling Shiroi what she had just said.

"I heard all that. Where's Satoshi right now?" A voice then spoke behind them, and then a hand rested on Shiroi's shoulder, making her jolt out of nowhere.

"Kuroe? Cherry? What are the two of you doing here?" Shiroi asked as familiar faces greeted her back. Although it hasn't been that long since they've seen each other in school, a lot has happened in a short time frame that Shiroi felt had been a long time.

"Oh, that? Everyone's here. Satoshi's dad basically flew all of us here as a surprise. Where's Satoshi? And who's this kid?" Kuroe asked, even though she had already read her mind and already knew her name.

Since Aira, too, had some psychic powers as her superpower (she can take a peek at the future, but it consumes much energy), she could tell that Kuroe was also some sort of psychic. That's why her initial response was to put her guard up.

"Don't worry, kid; onee-san here won't eat you." Kuroe teased, pointing at Cherry. "She might eat you though, so be careful, all right?"

"Eeh?!" Cherry exclaimed in surprise, glancing towards Aira, Emma, and then back at Kuroe. She fidgeted before bowing down toward the group. "Nice to meet you. I'm Sakura Cherry.

Her nervousness seeped out of her body, and everyone felt it. Even Aira, who was putting her guard up, totally underestimated this girl, Sakura Cherry. Aira even concluded that the girl was no match for her, and her lips curved upward as she thought about it.

"You shouldn't think that way, young miss," Kuroe put up her index finger and shook it. "This girl... she's scarier than me."

"Oh, so that's where you were. We've been looking everywhere for you guys. Turns out you're seated in front of us." Midori greeted, scanning all the familiar faces on the row of seats. "Why don't we visit Satoshi by the waiting room? Shiroi, lead the way! You already know where it is, right?"

"What?" Shiroi asked, shocked that Midori was right on point. "How did you..."

"Come on, you probably already visited him a couple of times already. Come on, lead the way. Let's cheer him on so he'd win this tournament by a landslide. Right, Hiroshi?" Midori said, putting his arm around Hiroshi's neck.

"Never mind that. I've also been to Satoshi's waiting room. I'll lead you guys there. Don't disturb him too much, though. There's another guy with him in his waiting room." Hiroshi pointed out.  "Apparently, there was a mix-up with the distribution of the rooms. That's why they had no choice but to put the two of them in one. He seems like a chill guy, though."

"Then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Midori raised a fist in the air while raising his voice at the same time. A couple of spectators glanced in his direction, glaring at him since he was causing an unnecessary scene. Muttering a soft sorry, he then repeated his exclamation. This time, he toned down his volume by a lot.

"Are~ arere~? Where's Cherry?" Kuroe said in surprise. She was the first one to notice that Cherry had already separated from the group.

"Yare yare daze~" Midori heaved a sigh. "I thought we talked about this, Kuroe. You were supposed to keep an eye on her."

"Ah shoot, here we go again." There was a certain panic in Hiroshi's tone as he started looking around. "Guys, let's spread out. We have to find her before she causes another trouble."

"I agree. Let's visit Satoshi after we've dealt with this. There's no telling what Cherry's up to this time." Midori agreed.

"You mean, Sassu. Cherry's pretty easy to deal with. Sassu, on the other hand, she's on another level of crazy."

"I'm sorry, you guys. I got distracted for a little bit, and now..." Kuroe trailed off. She panicked a little bit that she couldn't read Cherry's mind at all when Sassu took over her consciousness. That's why she couldn't find her using her superpower.

Fukushima Fuuka (sound manipulation and space distortion is her superpower) patted Kuroe on the shoulder. "We also didn't notice her go... so it's all our fault. For now, let's look for her."

Without further ado, everyone, including Shiroi and Emma, spread out to look for Sakura Cherry (right now, it was Sakura Sassu controlling her body, though).

.....

Meanwhile, by the hallway right outside the Grand Stage.

"Here you go," Satoshi handed Jana a glass of frappe, to which she muttered a soft thank you. Together, the two of them headed toward the tables and chairs by the end of the large hallway. A lot of people were already there, conversing and eating with each other while taking a break from the fighting happening inside.

"I, um, I wanted to thank you... for saving me." Jana bashfully said before taking a sip from her frappe. "Your sister... she watched over me while I was unconscious. I'm sorry, she should've been enjoying the Official Beast Tournament if it weren't for me."

"Ah, you mean, Ryoko?" Satoshi asked. "Don't worry about it. I doubt that she has any interest in the Official Beast Tournament. Besides, we didn't jump to your aid expecting a thank you. We're just relieved that nothing happened."

"I actually... Satoshi, right?"

"Yes?"

"Are you a Disciple too?" Jana asked out of nowhere.