Axel turned the corner and there it was—there was no possible way he could miss it.
Not with a signboard sticking out of the rugged roof, a devil face, holding a fork over the words "Devil's kitchen."
His eyes scanned around—no other devil's kitchen in sight.
"Guess it's here." A bell rang as he pushed the door.
Axel paused, eyes moved upward to a bell contraption above the door.
Designed in a way that opening automatically rings the bell.
And draw unnecessary attention. He could feel eyes on him, examining him like some lab specimen.
The silence in the restaurant, not helping matters.
Axel cleared his throat and straightened up with false bravado, his hand subconsciously tightening around the katana.
He calmly walked towards an empty table at the far end of the restaurant.
Each step echoing loudly against the tiled floor—the silence amplifying it.
The gazes trailing him made his skin crawl.
But his eyes stayed straight focused on the dart board at the back of the restaurant.
Calm down buddy, he mumbled to himself upon finally sitting, head bowed over the table.
Finally looking up, he gulped hard. His eyes locked with a rugged looking man.
A distinct scar ran along his face, disappearing into his scalp.
Axel smirked and nodded his head in a what's up manner, but deep down he was panicking.
The man glared at him, then scoffed and turned back to his drink.
Taking everyone's attention away from Axel, the tense silence broke as he slammed his cup on the table.
Axel took a deep breath and leaned back on the chair. His eyes examining the restaurant or perhaps it was a tavern, he couldn't quite tell.
It had cubicles like a diner, lined along the left wall.
But towards the right wall was a sort of counter, multiple chairs lined in front of it, filled with patrons at this point.
Behind the table was a rack with multiple drinks on display, booze, modern drinks, whiskey, bourbon—and others he didn't recognize.
But a unique barrel, with a taphead attached caught his attention.
A brown liquid rushed from it. The liquid seemed to keep changing colors.
But upon blinking, the color reset to brown.
His eyes moved to a chalk board hanging next to the rack. Posters hanging loosely from it.
The smell of curry, something roasted and booze was thick in the air, a frying sound coming from behind the counter.
At that moment, the doorbell rang out.
A pale hand was the first thing that was visible, the owner following, still in the oversized basketball jersey—Amy.
She stepped in and paused, her pale skin reflecting the dim lighting of the restaurant. It almost looked like it was glowing.
A few people threw glances her way, curious looks, going back to their business the next second, a big contrast to when he came in.
Her gaze landed on Axel, she started walking towards him, her gaze still as stern as before—bordering scary.
Even though her body structure did not quite fit that role.
Slouching on the chair opposite his, her eyes lingered on him—as if judging if he was worth talking to.
"You ordered anything yet?"
"No, waiting for a waiter," Axel answered, a smile on his lips.
She shook her head in acknowledgement, but said nothing, her head rolled back, resting on the chair, gaze on the roof.
Axel shifted, leaning in, he cleared his throat, lips parted but he paused.
What do I say?
Axel's eyes scanned her, searching for a conversation starter.
Her jersey, he smiled, "You play basketball?"
Amy's eyes slowly moved from the roof, stopped on Axel for a while before moving to the jersey.
"Not really," she answered, her tone flat, almost dismissive.
Axel simply nodded, "what's the st…" he paused, noticing her glare.
Jeez, Axel looked away, internally cursing Serif.
"You friends with Serif," her voice rang out.
"Nah, that douchebag, I barely know the guy," Axel said, waving his hand.
"We met barely a day ago, he's just with me for this, I guess," He pointed at the katana.
Her gaze lingered on Axel for a while, then it softened, she sighed, "sorry about all that."
"Its just I can't stand people like him."
Axel chuckled, "Yeah, I noticed, just a day with him and I can't stand the guy, his blank face."
"But hey I'm not like him, I do hope I'm not guilty by association."
Amy looked at him, emotionless, then she chuckled, "Don't worry, I'm not that shallow."
"So if you aren't a fan of basketball, what's with the Jersey," Axel asked, trying to get comfortable, take her mind off Serif.
She pinched the fabric, a faint smile on her lips, "Just a fashion choice, no story there."
Nope, definitely not just a fashion choice, not with that smile.
"Well that's a unique fashion sense though, and I'm guessing the hairstyle is part of the package," He continued.
She simply raised her brow, as if asking what do you mean.
"No it's cool," Axel said waving his hands defensively, "definitely doesn't give you that emo Vi, dangerous girl vibe."
Amy smiled, "is that so," She fiddled her braids, "unfortunately, that's what I was going for."
"Oh so you're a dangerous girl eh," Axel said with a smirk, "well I'll definitely need to be careful around you then," he leaned back.
She chuckled, "well to certain people I am." She looked down at the table, absent-mindedly twirling her braid.
"But man, the customer service here sucks," Axel whispered.
"That's not news, anyone who knows the devil's kitchen, knows that's it's reputation" She said aloud, grinning.
Laughter rang out through the restaurant in response.
Axel noticed the old man behind the counter glaring at them.
"Not as much as the delivery service that does no delivery," the man's mocking voice resounding in the restaurant, causing another round of laughter.
"At least the red devil still gets customers," a man added.
"And we all know why," another agreed, lifting his mug up.
Everyone lifted theirs in a collective aye, bursting into boisterous laughter.
Amy rolled her eyes, "douchebags," she turned to Axel, "what'll you like."
"Do they serve regular food?" Axel asked leaning in, " or…" he trailed off, his eyes narrowing.
"Or what," Amy asked, her eyes narrowing.
Axel shrugged, "I'll just have what you'll have."
She raised a brow, "you sure about that?"
Axel nodded, folding his hands.
"Well alright then," She said with a smile.
"Hey old man, a serving of the usual for us both," She said aloud to the man at the counter, "and," she paused, hesitating, "add the special."
The old man looked at her and grinned, "coming right up."
"I should have mentioned it before but," Axel said, pulling out the cash Hermes gave him.
"This is all I have, I hope it will be enough." He placed it on the table.
Amy looked at the money, her mouth slightly open.
"That stingy old man gave you all this," She whispered, disbelief in her voice.
"You sure this isn't from Serif."
Stingy, this must be a lot then guessing from her reaction, but why would someone with a stingy reputation give me this much? I don't believe it's out of the benevolence of his heart.
"Nah, just him, he said I should go get something to eat."
Amy sighed, her shoulders dropping. She grinned, chills travelled up his spine as she looked at him like some cash pig.
"Well since he gave this much," she turned to the counter again.
"Old man, bring out the extra special."
The restaurant got quiet as if she just mentioned an abomination.
Someone whistled.
The man grinned and burst into a boisterous laughter, "Trying to impress him eh."
"What's this extra special?" Axel asked warily.
"You'll see?" Amy answered, still grinning.
Axel took out a bill, examining it with curiosity, its size was the same as the standard note.
He couldn't quite determine the material it was made with, but it was unusually smooth and flexible.
He couldn't quite fold it, the note always straightened afterwards.
The color was blue, with a deeper blue line running along the edge, like a border.
In the middle was a circle enclosing what appeared to be a falling star.
Intricate designs of cracks spread from the circle.
"It's a meteorite," Amy's voice broke him out of his thoughts, she pointed to the center of the note, the falling star.
"The Zvezdan meteorite, the foundation of anima society." She paused.
Zvezdan, a meteorite, I should have guessed that.
"Zvezdan, the metal used to make anima?" He asked.
Amy leaned back on the chair, resting her head, "I do wonder about that," she mumbled.
Axel raised a brow.
"If it's a metal that is." She clarified.
"It's not?"
"Well, what do I say, it's unique," She answered, "it can exist in various forms, and we haven't figured out why or how."
Axel frowned, that doesn't seem weird.
"Other metals also exist in various forms depending on temperature, do you find that weird?" He asked.
Amy looked at him and chuckled, "that's right, let me clarify," she leaned in.
"Temperature, that's what makes it weird. Other metals require temperature change to change forms, but this, it can exist in all forms at the same temperature, even after centuries of research, no one has cracked it." she sat back.
"So yeah is that normal?" She narrowed her eyes.
Axel chuckled, "When you put it that way, it certainly isn't, you should have led with that."
"Speaking of which, you said centuries?" Axel asked, wondering if she was just exaggerating.
"Yeah" She answered and rubbed her hands as a waiter dropped their order on the table.
Axel narrowed his eyes and asked, "how long have anima existed?"
She picked up a burger and bit into it, head bobbing side to side, savoring the taste.
But Axel couldn't care less about the burger, at least not yet.
"I think about ten…t" She said, between swallows.
"Ten centuries huh, that isn't so far off."
"No, ten thousand as in ten thousand years ago and that's just an estimate," she said and bit down again.
Axel dropped the burger, eyes wide.
"And they've been hidden for that long, that's not possible is it." He shook his head in disbelief.
"Well they were not so hidden back then."
"In fact anima wielders determined the world power back then."
She leaned in, "As a matter of fact wars up to king Alexander's time involved anima users, why do you think there are myths of heroes like Hercules, Achilles, sun wukong and all those type of things." She finished with a grin.
"You should try this," she muttered half inaudibly due to her mouth full, pointing at his burger.
"So what happened?" Axel said, ignoring her.
"The council happened, some say they discovered aliens who are more advanced in using Zvezdan, aliens who could be potential threat which earth wasn't ready for."
"So they decided to control earth from the shadows, building up anima users while preventing anything that could draw their attention."
"But it's all rumors though, although I don't believe it," She finished, picking up a cup with the brown liquid, and taking a gulp.
Aliens huh, but why would they go secret, that doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it.
Unless the use of anima itself could be a beacon.
But why hide, they could have just regulated usage of anima or something.
He sighed, there is something fishy about all this, but that doesn't concern me.
"So what can you tell me about this," Axel placed the katana on the table.
His brow lifted as he saw Amy whose cheeks were now rosy red, a unique contrast with her pale skin.