As we continued on to drink and some to even eat, I felt my bladder troubling me, getting up and rushing to the bathroom.
Woah, after all the tension from before, I completely forgot that I need to piss… Damn, that was bad.
I felt a shudder after letting out the burden in the first urinal out of 3 that were inside the men’s bathroom. To my surprise, the restaurant was quite luxurious, having actually 3 urinals.
As I was emptying the tank, another dude entered and occupied the third one from the other end.
“Damn~ feels good, man.”
A wide smile appeared on his face, his voice reflecting his relaxed nerves. Feeling the same, I smiled and nodded my head,
“Damn right it does. I was exploding here.”
“Bro same. After the female’s competition, we’re next. I’m so nervous, I piss every half an hour.”
“Oh?”
I looked at him and saw that he was exactly the guy that stared at me and nodded back with a smile after saluting him out of reflex. He seemed friendly, but his frosty-blue eyes showed his unruly character, while his dreads accentuated his free spirit.
Seeing me stare at him, he smiled and explained while showing his dojo’s badge on his kimono’s shoulder,
“Yeah I’m also fighting, not just a bench-warmer.”
He smiled widely then sighed while continuing to empty his tank.
“To be honest, it would’ve been great if I could fight you once as well, but I heard from Sabin that you don’t like fighting, so I won’t bother you with that anymore.”
“Sabin…? You know that punk?”
“Lol! Punk? He’s more behaved than most dudes I know.”
He laughed amused after seeing my surprised face but then continued with a smile while I went to wash my hands.
“He’s my best buddy and, although quite the schemer, he’ll never cross a man that doesn’t deserve it. He’s a cool guy until he holds a grudge against you. Yeah, after that, he ain’t cool, he’s freezing.”
“Well, nothing to do with me.”
I shrugged my shoulders and wiped my hands with a paper tissue then the guy also started washing his hands. Calm yet amused, seeing me reach out to open the door, he quickly added while laughing amiably,
“Oh come on, man~! Let’s chat for a while longer.”
“And why should we? Not like we know each other?”
I raised an eyebrow while glancing back at him but then he shrugged his shoulders as he also ripped a paper tissue to wipe his hands.
“I’m just curious to know more about the guy that made Sabin so interested as to talk about him.”
“… I’m not his target, am I?”
Although not afraid of Sabin, I’d rather choose to avoid any conflicts with a guy that’s so masterful at controlling and manipulating others.
Seeing my troubled expression, the guy laughed out then patted my shoulder while shaking his head,
“No, no. Rather, he seems to want to befriend you.”
“He needs friends? Or puppets? Rather, why are you telling me this? Do you also need a friend? Is it about making a free weapon? Money comes first when it comes to my work, buddy.”
“Woah woah woah, hold up a sec…”
He raised both hands in surrender, being overwhelmed by the questions. He massaged his temples for a moment when he spoke out while thinking over each question I asked.
“Okay, so… First of all, it’s really not what you think, I’ll tell you in a bit. Second of all, I’m telling you this because I also find you to be a cool guy to be in the group. And third of all, chill out you crazy bastard, nobody gonna ask for no free weapon. Geez, are you that traumatized by idiots who ask for free stuff?”
“Many ambushed me to threaten for a free weapon, so you tell me about it…”
“Damn…”
He sighed amazed after hearing that I was actually a bit traumatized, but then I thought over what he said and just shook my head uninterested.
“You said something about a group, right? Look, I know how groups work; The moment someone from the group asks for help, the others are obliged to help or assist in some way or they’ll be pressured by the others or even kicked out, while in the free time they waste their time together on useless stuff like chatting, partying, doing dumb stuff and waste money together all day or night just for some useless memories, am I right?”
“… Wow, you sound like a real loner.”
His eyes spelled that’s pitiful while gazing at me. I felt a bit irritated by his gaze and so I turned and wanted to open the door again,
“Now that you know what type of guy I am, don’t bother with trying to integrate me in your group. I won’t join you guys for anything.”
I wanted to leave but then he grabbed my shoulder again, making me turn to him annoyed,
“What is it?”
“Woah, no need to be so on-guard now.”
He smiled amused after retracting his hand and quickly took out his phone. He showed me a chatting application shortly after, pressing on a group with only 4 members.
“What is this?”
“This is our group. And I promise you, it’s nothing similar to what you thought.”
“…”
I looked at it more intently and to my surprise, the conversations inside of it were nothing similar to what a normal group would chat about…
[Jo. 8:30 AM: Hey Sa, dogs near the bridge where the goods are at. I’ll get you back if you help me out.]
[8:31: Audio Call between Sa. and Jo. Ended]
[Sa. 9:22 AM: You owe me one.]
[Jo. 9:22 AM: 
]
[Sa. 5:13 PM: De, call me when you can. I got what I owed you.]
[6:03 PM: Audio Call between De and Sa Ended]
…
The conversations continued on and I was greatly surprised to observe how the messages were kept to a bare minimum, while the calls between members were constantly used, perhaps to not keep any written evidence. The names were also only the first two letters of their names, the individual Sa most probably being Sabin in this case, the one who also had the crown of the group leader.
After observing the weird group, I couldn’t help raising an eyebrow while staring at the guy suspiciously,
“What the heck, are you guys some type of outlaws to be this secretive?”
“We~ll, we’re using this group to ask each other for different things… Most of them are illegal as well, not gonna lie…”
He scratched his head with a wry smile but he then gazed deeply at me, a mysterious smile on as he continued,
“However, we don’t invite in this group but only those who are able to meet some conditions… First of all, they can keep secrets, quite a rare skill to be honest. Second, they are disciplined and are aware of their own skills and limits, something hardly met. Third, they don’t care about the law. If they hate the system, then even better, criteria met by about anyone. And fourth, they’re reasonable and cool-minded, able to control themselves. Again, a rare trait. The last thing we need it’s a hot-blooded idiot that acts on impulse.”
“… And so you decided to recruit me in your little group after meeting me only once? Aren’t you a bit too rushed to judge one’s character?”
My eyes flashed interested as I couldn’t help but find the usefulness of such a group quite interesting, but the guy simply smiled and scrolled down some more.
“You think we don’t know you, but in truth we know more than you’d guess.”
He showed me a recent message with a doc. that has been deleted but most probably saved by everyone in the group, the message being from Sa.
[Sa. 12:21 PM: Here’s a possible future member of the group, Le. Anyone who meets him, try to persuade him into joining without bothering him. Whoever gets to bring him in, I’ll owe them.](De, Jo, and An liked this message)
I was pretty sure that doc was containing information about me and that made me frown. However, rather than getting annoyed, I only felt more impressed and even creeped out by the serious character of the group. I glanced at the guy and he smiled again,
“I’m only trying to reassure you that you meet all the criteria for joining. The fact that Sabin wants you in only shows your value.”
“My… how honorable.”
I raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged his shoulders again. He placed the phone back into his pocket then he continued with a deep gaze,
“I’m not a salesman so I have no idea how to promote this group to you, but I can assure you that there won’t be any risks for you joining, only advantages. You’ll be able to ask for help from any one of us, or even from everyone at the same time, whenever and wherever. As long as you have something to equalize the service we’ll offer, be it in money, goods, or other services, the ones inside the group will do it. You can also get someone’s help and remain indebted until the other asks for your help for something.”
“… And if I can’t help or I refuse to do so?”
I asked while gazing intently at him but he just chuckled amused, waving his hand as if finding my serious expression ridiculous.
“What, you think we’d suddenly gang up on you or something? We’re reasonable people. We’ll ask for help from someone who has the necessary set of skills to do the job we need. For example, you won’t see me ask for Sabin to help me in a fight when that guy gets his ass whooped even by a woman. He might have the muscles, but other than block and dodge, he can’t do s***. He’s only able to defend. As for myself, I’m all about fighting, you won’t see me strategizing or coming up with some crazy plan as Sabin does. I know my limits.”
He laughed some more and after he calmed down he continued, this time with a more serious face on,
“However, if you refuse without a good reason, then the others won’t help you anymore until you get to pay up all your debts. You gotta be accountable for your requests, you know? As for turning hostile, we both know what would happen…”
“Get ganged up on, am I right?”
“This time, yes. And you can’t say it’s unreasonable.”
His eyes serious, we remained in deep silence for a moment, until someone else pushed the door to enter.
“Ah, sorry…?”
The other guy that entered lightly struck me with the door and after seeing both of us with such serious faces on, he couldn’t help but have a weird feeling of pressure while entering.
Being disturbed, the dreads-guy simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head with a smile on, going out the door first.
“Well, if you ever wish to join, just contact any of us.”
“So I should do that after the holidays when school starts again to meet up with Sabin, yeah?”
“You could just join now. Should I simply add you?”
“… Sure, but don’t expect a hi from me.”
“Yeah, no worries.”
I sent him my number and I was instantly added to the group under the name Le. The first to react was Jo,
[Jo. 01:20 PM: Oy Sa, I got Le in. Now you owe me!]
Shortly after, a ding! resounded and Sabin’s answer appeared.
[Sa 01:21 PM: Yes, as promised. And Le, welcome to the group. I’m sure Jo will fill you in with the details about the group.]
[Sa 01:21 PM: If nothing happens, then see you after the holidays.]
He must be talking about seeing each other at school… Damn, this guy won’t even say that we’re high school students, how serious.
I shook my head amused and as I scrolled through the group chat, I suddenly got a DM from Jo with four docs in them, making me raise my head at the guy beside me.
He smiled widely then reached out for a handshake,
“Now that we’re in the same group, let me introduce myself. I’m Josh, and I welcome you in this group of outlaws, as you called it.”
He chuckled as we shook hands and continued while pointing at my phone,
“I just sent you the documents with info about the four of us. It’s nothing too serious, only some qualities and skills each of us possess that could be helpful for you, together with some defects and limits that you’d wish to take into consideration before asking for a request. We each wrote something about the other then we put something head-to-head to make it as accurate as possible.”
I couldn’t help smiling wryly, wondering just how many things have they took into consideration when they made this group. After all, it wasn’t a group meant for friends, but for partners and allies. It was as if they gathered together to imitate a group of friends, only to take out the friends part, leaving only the group based on the cold and direct mentality of give and take. And to be honest, I loved it.
After we chatted for a bit, I decided to take a look over the four documents, remaining a bit impressed by each of the members.
[Member 1: Sabin
Appearances: Punkish, cool, calm.
Skills: Friendly, manipulator, charming, good actor, tricky, strategic, strong physique, quick to escape, slick tongue, calculative, fearless, knowledge in administration, accountability, and ocultism.
Limits: Unable to fight, punkish appearance, holds grudges, broke, cold-hearted.
Character: calm and decisive introvert, able to be extrovert]
[Member 2: Annabelle
Appearances: Confident, alluring, rich.
Skills: Devilish charm, heart-manipulator, tricky, leadership, beautiful, popular, good actor, likable, internet influencer, power of money, knowledge in entrepreneurship, investing, and ballet.
Limits: Authoritative, prideful, princess-character when angered, money-lover, greedy, proud, sadistic.
Character: Charming extrovert, can be calm like an introvert]
[Member 3: Deea
Appearances: Plain, quiet, small.
Skills: Undetectable, quiet voice, wise, analytical, willing to help, resourceful, knowledge in informatics, computers, and writing novels.
Limits: Shy, difficulty to adapt, low self-esteem, hates violence, can’t handle loud people, sensible heart, low sociability, weak body.
Character: Cool yet shy Introvert.]
Member 4: Josh
Appearances: Delinquent, handsome, strong.
Skills: Friendly, direct, sharp senses, strong physique, quick-witted, sociably adaptive, popular, fearless, knowledge in martial arts, weapon-wielding, and using the drums.
Limits: Sharp tongue, unable to negotiate, battle-crazed, loves risks, delinquent appearance, indifferent behavior.
Character: Open and direct extrovert.]
As I read all this, I suddenly felt curious about something and asked Josh for my own info.
“Sure, there you go.”
After getting it, I couldn’t help feeling a bit conflicted.
[Member 5: Leon
Appearances: Strong, handsome, fearsome looks.
Skills: Strong physique, manipulator, crafty, calm, wise, direct, able to fight, accountable, adaptive, indifferent, knowledge in bladesmithing, sword-wielding, and cooking.
Limits: Sharp tongue, doesn’t like to fight, hard to approach, hunted by gangsters, dark past, loves money, prideful.
Character: Indifferent, cold Introvert, able to be extrovert]
What the f***? How do they know I can cook? And what do they mean by “fearsome looks”? I look that scary? And why the heck is my past used as a limiter?! Bro, what the f***…
I looked up at Josh again with a revolted look and he simply shrugged his shoulders, a wry smile on his face.
“I know what you want to ask but let me tell you, most of these details were added by Sabin. Dunno where he got the info from, but sure enough it must be pretty accurate. As for the limits, we added those details so as to be aware of what kind of crazy things we add ourselves into by dealing with you.”
“Does that mean most of my help requests could be ignored simply because of that? Then what the heck am I in this group for?!”
“O-okay, just calm down…”
He also felt ridiculous after reaching this conclusion, still trying to calm me down and just get back, remembering me once again to not tell anyone about this group.
