Chapter 380 First Contact

Satoshi gulped before his lips twitched into a half-smile. He couldn't tell whether Ayano was joking or not. But if it wasn't a joke, then what is it? Satoshi's train of thought started running beyond the speed limit as he turned around to lead the way. There was no way Ayano was keen on going with him to the bathroom. There's just no way.

"What?" Lydia Schwarz, who had been sitting beside Ayano, overheard the conversation and it took her a couple of seconds to take in what Ayano implicated when she mentioned going to the bathroom with Satoshi. Before she came back to her senses, she was already standing, attracting the attention of the nearby spectators since she got to her feet in a flash.

As she turned her head to get a glimpse of the other people around her, her face turned a nice shade of red before she followed Ayano. She stayed a close distance on her rear. She didn't have the slightest of idea why she began following Ayano and Satoshi to the restroom. By the time she came to the realization that she was intervening in something secretive, she felt like going back. However, she was too far gone into the situation that she decided to follow through with it no matter the repercussions that lie ahead.

Of course, with her suspicious tailing, it didn't take long before Satoshi and Ayano noticed her. The first one to turn around was Satoshi who had no idea why Lydia opted to follow him to the restroom as well. 'No, maybe she was just going to buy some food with the Eye Goddess. There's no way that the two of them would go to the restroom with me, right?' Satoshi felt a hint of nervousness in his head as he stole a glance towards Lydia.

"Are you going to follow us to the restroom as well, Lydia?" Ayano asked out of the blue, causing a couple of heads to turn their way since she said it as if it was just a normal topic in a typical day. Even Satoshi felt second hand embarassment when he haerd what Ayano asked Lydia.

Meanwhile, Lydia drooped her head as she tried to hide her embarassment. She didn't respond to what Ayano asked of her. However, it was clear based on her intentions that she really meant to follow the two of them.

"What on earth is going on?" Satoshi asked himself under his breath as he deliberately put his hood on to hide his face from the people passing by. His bladder screamed of a toilet break so there was no way he could wait for both Ayano and Lydia to stop following him before he goes to the restroom.

"In the first place, what did they want with me? What do they intend to do to me in the restroom? Don't tell me... are they going to threaten me?" Satoshi's thoughts was even more unpredictable than a the weather. There were plenty of things he should've thought first but the first thing that occurred in his mind was blackmail.

"But why? I can't remember ever offending the Eye Goddess... let alone Lydia. Or maybe this is one of those rare moments where I did something without realizing and now they're out for my blood. Whichever the case, I have to put my guard up and ask for an apology if necessary." Satoshi carefully laid out his plan despite the fact that he felt like walking straight into an inescapable trap.

As he neared the toilet, he slowed down his pace in hopes that both Ayano and Lydia would change their minds if he bought more time. The resolute expressions on their faces said otherwise, however, and Satoshi could tell that they were really keen on following him inside.

"But why? What's wrong with them?" Satoshi couldn't help but adress the elephant in the room. Regardless, there was no answer to such a ridiculous question and now the inevitable has come.

Before Satoshi could enter the bathroom though, Ayano grabbed him by the rest, almost causing him to fall the other way. However, his momentum was more than sufficient to push him inside.

Fearing that she'd be left behind, Lydia managed to grab onto Ayano the moment she caught Satoshi by the wrist. Despite bracing herself for the sudden force of momentum that prompted her forward, she still fell to the front as if some sort of mysterious force was pulling all of them inside the restroom.

Satoshi was the first one to perceive the great force that sucked him into the restroom. He almostlet out a scream, but he immediately realized that his voice was muffled. Adding to that, instead of finding himself in the bathroom, he found himself in an empty vast space filled with nothing but darkness. Satoshi's speculations led to one thing— that they were teleported somewhere against their will, and now they had to wait for what's to come.

This also made him somewhat understand why Ayano wanted to follow him into the restroom. Since she's the Eye Goddess herself with one of the most powerful foresight in the world, there was no doubt that she was able to see through the future. And the best route she saw in the future was when she followed Satoshi inside the unknown dimensional portal. It all started making sense now.

pαпdα-ňᴏνêι·сóМ Quite frankly, Satoshi was close to the mark. The reason why Ayano decided follow him wasn't because she knew the future. In fact, it was quite the opposite. In alternate futures, Ayano saw Satoshi going inside the dimensional portal alone. And upon doing that, a great catastrophe soon followed.

Another alternate future was witnessed by Ayano when she decided to go through the portal instead of Satoshi herself. However, she couldn't get any information inside the dimensional portal. While it could mean a lot of things, Ayano immediately concluded that the materials beyond the dimensional portal wasn't of Earth's. That's why she couldn't peer through it inside.

One, she could let Satoshi go inside the portal or two, she can go through the portal herself, saving Satoshi in the process. However, both endings were filled with uncertainty. That's why Ayano chose the third option. She decided to latch herself onto Satoshi before he disappeared into the void.

Somehow, the plan worked, and she managed to change the future with such minimal alteration. Whether her decision proved to be good or bad is now up to the future's uncertainty. After all, she didn't plan to get this far. Her last bout of effort to accompany Satoshi proved to be successful when she assumed that it wouldn't.

The vast emptiness gaveoff an eerie feeling to the three of them. Not only was the place endless with minimal lighting, they also had no idea where to get resources. If they stick together, it would take a far longer time to get the basic necessities they outght to have.

"Why are we here, just to suffer." Satoshi asked himself. He certainly was unlucky. Not only did he get teleported out of nowhere, his spot in the semi-finals and finals of the Official Beast Tournament would be a pending disqualification if he didn't get there on time.

"Ghast, let's get out of here." Satoshi didn't waste time summoning his trusty friend Ghast, who could create dimensional portal that could lead anywhere.

To his surprise, he felt genuine fear oozing out of Ghast as he meekly floated towards Satoshi's back and hid there. Whatever it was in the room with them, it's far more powerful than Ghast when it comes to creating dimensional portal or just creating dimensional portals in particular.

"What are we dealing with here, exactly?" Satoshi muttered as his legs buckled. He needed to pee. He needed to pee really badly.

"I think it's some form of alien. They might be planning to invade the Earth for a long time now. If not, then there's no way they sent these many scouts without us ever noticing them. I guess they're bound to invade earth soon enough." Ayano answered a matter of factly.

"In ny case, this was the first time Ghast was overpowered in his game. Who would've thought that there'd be someone stronger than Ghast." Satosi said to himself as he apologized to Ghast for saying something so sharp.

"What do we do now?" Lydia asked. She didn't ask to be here, in the first place. She was just dragged into the situation because Ayano was acting weird. Had she known that something like this would happen, she wouldn't have grabbed Ayano by the wrist before they gut socked inside.

Suddenly, bright lights flooded the entire room, causing the three of them to flinch. A door from afar opened and in came a man oddly familiar to Satoshi. He wore black robes, a black spear and a tome. He seemed to be more excited than Satoshi to be here than anyone else.

"Your Satoshi, right? RIGHT?" The man enthusiasticall exclaimed. "Oh wait, pardon my introductions, the name's Bucky Barnes. Don't ask me, that's my real name. I'm your Manager."