Chapter 179: Anime and Deathrace 2020

Chapter 179: Anime and Deathrace 2020

Cooking pancakes was much more complex than Milo had ever imagined! He hadn't considered that half the people he was cooking for didn't know what pancakes were. There was also the question of why he was doing it. Saying, "I want pancakes, I don't care about the money, and I had to order in bulk for fast delivery." would have generated even more questions, some of which he didn't want to answer.

Luckily, he'd come to the right house. Mama got to work instructing the young ones how to mix pancake batter. From somewhere, two tables appeared out in the courtyard near where he and Butch were assembling his makeshift grill. Butch wanted to know where he got the parts. Milo just shrugged and said, "Oh, you know..." which actually satisfied Butch. Milo had learned the expression from watching Butch and the rest of the gang. If something wasn't nailed down in the Hab Blocks, it tended to wander off. There were rules, of course, but they were unwritten and mostly unspoken, causing Milo much confusion at times.

The rest of Butch's gang showed up quickly. Free food was good food. They were extremely curious about where Ghost had picked up the food and cooking gear. Butch shrugged and said, "Oh, you know..." and nodded with his head toward Ghost. Several stared at the assembled grill made from welding torches and a large metal panel. They were equally impressed when Mama brought out the first batch of batter, and Ghost started pouring out perfect circles and carefully flipped them over with a spatula in each hand. Milo fed Mama and the little ones first, then the gang. By then, a small crowd of curious neighbors had shown up, and Milo started handing out plates of pancakes to the smaller children. The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

Butch anticipated the next problem as an adult took the food from a child. The pancake thief found himself surrounded by the gang, was forced to apologize to a nine-year-old and was sent to the end of the line. He was sour initially but got over it when he was handed his plate a few minutes later. As more people showed up, the gang kept things orderly. Brad and Yumi watched how Ghost made the pancakes and asked questions before asking to take over the cooking duties. Milo was glad for the break. This was different from the Hollow. There was some tension in the air. People didn't know what to expect. There was also the feeling of a holiday. Someone set up music, and the smaller children took advantage of being able to play together.

Milo slipped away two hours later. He'd pushed himself but had reached the end of his ability to be around people. Yumi, in particular, was making him nervous. Both in how close she sat next to him and how difficult it was to beat her in some games. When he left Butch's house, she'd volunteered to walk him out. Brad started to join, but Butch challenged him suddenly to a Deathrace 2020 match using the new Philadelphia map he'd put together.

After walking aimlessly with Yumi talking to him about her favorite anime, Ghost agreed to meet up with her in a couple of days to watch her favorites. She waved and smiled as he disappeared into a service hatchway, and Milo tried to figure out why he had agreed. He'd said yes just to break off conversation and leave. He barely knew what anime was. And she wanted to know what his favorite show was? He was so confused.

Back at his real house, he started to think things over. He realized that he had subconsciously decided to be around people more and see if he liked them. Similar to cheese, he'd only recently discovered people. He needed to study the situations he was getting into and figure out the rules.

In some ways, it was similar to the Hollow, with no one trying to kill him.