Joyce from the States

"Yes, I talked to him, he's a very interesting fellow." Antonio talked to the figure shrouded in shadows.

"Yes. Yuki is indeed an interesting fellow. Otherwise she wouldn't have entrusted us with this job" The figure spoke back in a deep voice.

"I'll be meeting up with him again, I offered him a treat in the cafeteria, oh! By the way he's going to bring some friend with him too." Antonio stated.

"Huh? So you are meeting new people now Tonio?" The figure asked back in a stretched manner.

"Yes, they must be as interesting as Yuki."

"I see, go and meet up with them then, they must be waiting for you. Just don't forget your work"

"Sure. Well then, I'll take my leave."

"Bye-Bye Tonio."

"Caio Joyce."

✳ ✳ ✳

"So this courtyard here leads from Block A, to the training grounds, then to Block B and at the end of it the city complex starts, and the cafeteria is to the west side of the dorms." Naomi explained the structure to Yuki so he won't get lost again while walking out of Block A.

As soon as they exited the hot building they were hit with a mix of hot sunshine and cool breeze. The wind flapped the frill-tiered trimmings on her boho peasant dress. The slight pink of the dress reflected the sunlight falling on it and the round neckline exposed her bone.

It's nice how we can wear our casual clothes after school hours, that way it's not too restricting and I can find out more about others by their taste in fashion, that Antonio guy was still wearing his uniform tho.

Yuki caught sight of Naomi's feet to notice that she was wearing light pink sneakers and opaque white stockings. His gaze went back to her face as something shone behind her short brown hair. The windswept back her hair to reveal golden studs in the shape of a 4 leaf clover. Naomi realized that Yuki was staring at her and she blushed for a second and snapped at him in embarrassment, "WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT?".

"N-nothing, I thought y-you had nice e-earrings" he stammered.

"OH these?" Naomi exclaimed, "Yes they were gifted to me, by one of my close friends."

"I see. So, is this Black Moon Cafe like crowded with many people?"

"Yes, indeed, there are many people there, but it's the big cafeteria, it feels empty even after that amount of people, well not empty but like fairly space-full." Naomi explained.

"Sounds really cool-" Yuki paused. His eyes moved to a kid who was walking towards him. It was John. John saw him too, his face looked amused for a second, then he called Yuki out "Aye, aren't you the new student who didn't know where his class was?" The bully said, "How stupid can you be haha." He started laughing hysterically with his minions, "Right right, how stupid can someone be." The kids around him repeated.

Goddamn, why does this instance have to repeat? I feel bad for the readers for seeing his ugly face again.

✳ ✳ ✳

"Ha Ha Ha, so you got caught up with that bully, John?" Antonio exclaimed.

"Yes. He was really annoying!" Naomi exclaimed too, excitedly narrating the story to Antonio, even forgetting to introduce herself, "But then Yuki just pulls out his hand and goes puff and knocks him out, and gets knocked out himself, just like an idiot! Then Miss Yuan came and made us all hear, it didn't take that long tho, I thought we won't even be able to meet you."

"Ah yes, that reminds me, we haven't even introduced ourselves. My name is Antonio Prada. But you can call me whatever you wish. Piacere di conoscerti" He introduced himself while slightly bending in his seat and his arm over his chest.

"Oh yes right, I forgot that as well, I'm Sasaki Naomi, nice to meet you too." She did the same.

"You two are already getting along so well." Yuki remarked, sitting between them on a round table with 4 chairs facing each other. There was a cappuccino in front of each of them and they were drinking it at their own pace.

"That's because we have better social skills than an average NEET like you." Naomi taunted Yuki.

"Well that's quite a remark." Antonio added to Naomi's joke while sipping his cappuccino.

"Hey don't call me a NEET, I'm not a NEET."

"You are, don't deny. Well anyways, I was talking to you Antonio."

"Yes, how can I be of your help?"

"You said you were from Italy right? Where in Italy?"

"I'm from Veneto."

"So from Venice?"

"No, not from Venezia, I'm from Vittorio Veneto."

"Oh can you tell me more about your hometown then?"

Yuki, just sitting there, lost between their conversations, started to notice how beautiful the canteen actually was. It was big enough to be a 5-star restaurant. The main hall was as big as his class. There was another open floor too, half as big as the ground floor, it had golden railing and a giant clock on the front, it had two giant curved staircases leading up from the left and right ends of the room, the self-service counter was at the end of the room with a large variety of food and cuisines from all over the world. And as Naomi said, even after so many people being there he didn't feel even a bit claustrophobic. Yuki was so lost in the moment that he didn't realize that a person approached them, standing right behind him.

"Heyy, how are you guys doing?" Exclaimed the person in a deep feminine voice above right Yuki's head, not actually noticing him there.

Everyone looked up to the person who had suddenly approached them. It was a muscular girl, she had the menacing energy to her. She was a head shorter than Yuki, she was wearing a black double-breasted shirt with gold embroidery and two golden shoulder buttons. She was the first girl Yuki saw who wasn't wearing a skirt but black pants that matched her uniform. A portion of her blonde brown hair was tied into a Dutch Braid and resting on her left shoulder, the rest of her long hair was waving on her back, and her hair ended with a purple dye.

She was the second person who Yuki thought radiated the Special energy. Although this time it was clear why. She was wearing a uniform that was different from everyone else's.

"There's a group of students selected for the Disciplinary Committee, they have special privileges in their hands, their uniform is also different from everyone else's, they wear black clothes with golden embroidery, you don't want to get in trouble with them." Yuki remembered what Naomi had told him. That's when his attention went towards her waist, she had a knife strapped to her belt, it had a brown handle with a brass pommel and a red hilt. Yuki swallowed his spit looking at it.

"Joyce! you didn't tell me you were coming here too." Antonio exclaimed to the girl who just arrived.

"I had some free time on me so I decided to meet your new friends, dear Tonio." Joyce replied to Antonio in a sweet taunting voice.

She then realized the presence of Yuki and looked down towards him, scanned him for a second then exclaimed "Duh! Another frail looking pretty boy! Why aren't there any more real men in this academy?"

Does she think I'm pretty?

And just like that, she forgot his presence again, shifting her attention to Naomi.

"Oh hello Naomi~chan, long time no see, how are you doing? I see you're still wearing those earrings I gave you. Weren't you sent for scouting? That job sucked for me, how did it go for you?" Joyce asked Naomi excitedly.

"Long time no see indeed sweetheart. I'm doing well. And yes the scouting job did suck." Naomi glanced at Yuki for a second, "But in the end I got the new student here, I don't think I'll ever go scouting ever again. How about you? How are your Disciplinary Committee tasks coming up?"

"Oh you don't ask, every second guy is trying to be the cool delinquent they see in movies, causing trouble for everyone around, though the trend is at its dying stage, I hope it just ends." Joyce wailed, bending over Yuki's chair and completely missing the NEET's presence. She rested her breasts over the back of his chair, freaking Yuki.

Yuki froze like a pillar man but not for physical closure. Rather, it was the ample volumes that threatened to spill from its top that stunned him, sending figures bounding through his brain.

"It's… thirty-eight thousand… no… fourty thousand… IT'S OVER FORTY THOUSAND!" Yuki screamed to himself in his thoughts

"Looks like we both have a tiring duty. Any news you got? Any new good students?" Naomi enquired with curiosity.

"Ah yes, there is this newcomer girl, Christine Austin. She's an interesting fellow. She's pretty smart, but very shy. She learnt all the rules of auras in a day."

Austin. I've heard this name somewhere, why can't I remember?

"She sounds like those prodigy kids, I feel like I've seen her somewh-" Naomi paused, she saw something… something about to explode right in front of her-

"Are you Naomi and Antonio's friend? Are you in the Disciplinary Committee? What year are you from?" Yuki asked Joyce excitedly after not being able to hold his urge to socialize and make new friends and prove Naomi wrong about him being a NEET. As Joyce had forgotten about Yuki, she looked down to find him staring at her from below. She flushed for a moment then backed up and cleared her throat, giving him a proper introduction. "Ahem. Err… Yes. The name's Joyner, Joyce Joyner. I'm from Stamford. I'm a part of the Disciplinary Committee and I'm in my third year. Now will you tell me your good name?"

"Right! My name is Tachibana Yuki. I'm from Saitama prefecture. First year. I joined the academy today. Nice to meet you." Yuki introduced himself.

"So you are the newcomer who came with Naomi." Joyce pondered.

"Yes, I am!" Yuki exclaimed.

"I see, nice to meet you too." Joyce said in a slow tone as if thinking about something.

"He is a NEET, so he may sound weird at times, don't mind him." Naomi taunted Yuki.

"I've told you, I'm not whatever you're accusing me to be." Yuki raged.

"So you are that kind of kid huh?" Joyce pondered while placing a seat for herself between Yuki and Naomi, still in thought.

"So Yuki~Kun," she began, finally snapping out of her thoughts, placing her elbow on the table and her chin on her fingers "do you have any girlfriend?." Joyce asked Yuki, showing a lot more interest she had in him than before.

"Wh-what? Why would you ask something like that all of a sudden?" Yuki stammered, not being able to wrap his head around the situation.

"Why wouldn't I? I want to know more about you now that you've introduced yourself, you're quite the interesting fellow." Joyce said, bending towards Yuki.

"A-and why exactly do you want t-to know about my personal life?" Yuki still stammered, showing more and more of his NEET side and not being able to keep up with social interaction.

Joyce produced a smug smile and then started laughing, "Yeah you can't have a girlfriend, not if you are like this hahaha" Joyce giggled, "Hehe, you're cute Yuki~kun…"

SHE SAID IT AGAIN!

"...but sadly I don't like cute guys." She said while pointing at her biceps, "I like men who are strong, you get it right?" She winked at Yuki.

At this point, Yuki was in mental warfare with himself and had no idea about what to say, "Y-yes yes, I understand, I'm glad I met you."

"I'm glad I met you too." She said while standing up, "I'll have to go now, I was here just for a small chat. See you all later. Bye-bye," She left the canteen while waving at them.

Yuki was enjoying his time with his friends, but this time had already passed on, it was a thing of the past and in the present moment, he was sitting in class, facing his newly made friend.

Ch9.2 - Tonio from Italy—End