(NYC) Field: Times Square

[Jello]

Haruka looked up, listening to the hesitant Alex. He was pretty okay with those things, being described to what food tastes like sounds childish, but its not his fault for never being exposed to those kinds of things back in Rijiku.

"Hmm.... I'll do pancakes then, I like sweet so that works." Haruka's demeanor had somewhat become childlike. His ability to take things too seriously had sort of gone down the drain when his only resolve was shredded like paper. He ended up just reverting to his younger years type of attitude, and let Sera take control of anything important. Which wasn't much recently, as far as Haruka could remember...

"And coffee. Pancakes and coffee." Alex was taking what felt like extreme measures to make sure Haruka didn't have a sudden fit of anxiety. Thankfully, he handled it well and they managed to order food.

Wow. The first challenge of today was ordering food and Haruka was already almost done with the day. Now he really felt like a little kid.

[Skyzlimitz]

"That was a great fight!" Sky said picking up his cards "If the fighters around here are all as strong as you this should be interesting." Sky said smiling. "But one thing what was that thing when you rode over your grade 3 vanguard and got +2k power? The art looked similar, but the card was different."

[Hope]

"Yeah it's a crossride, and no problem," She said as she looked back at Pacifica.

"I messed up, gomenasai," She apologized to Pacifica and the crew.

They didn't seem to mind. They were glad to be back with Hana, and Hana was glad to be back with them. Now it was time to eat, so Hana stood back up and head back to the register to do her order. Strangely enough, Pacifica's been talking about a bunch of new idol groups that were starting up. Sooner or later, Hana would have to give them all a shot and she was excited about that. Of course, Pacifica would be the one to show them all and teach them as head senpai of the mermaid clan.

The employee asked her what vegetables she wanted on her salad. She nodded and looked him straight in the eye, "Everything."

He sweat nervously.

[Skyzlimitz]

"Crossride huh?" Sky said stretching and heading out the door. As he walked out Sky stared at his avatar Blaukluger "...I wonder if you have one?"

[AlwaysAwake]

Alexander nodded, the waitress with impeccable timing appearing in a jiffy. He turned to eye her, ordering for them both to get it out of the way faster before turning to face Haruka. Taking a moment to think what he might say though not coming up with much. Though luckily he would remember some details about him, opening about some of those.

"So how's having Kagero back?" Questioning with a tiny sparkle in his eye, if anything in the world excited him it would have been this game. Awaiting an answer as the food hurried onto it's destiny to be made to fit in them. An awkward thought when one embellishes like so.

"Oh, and maybe your girlfriend to boot. She doing any more weird mystical stuff?" The last question playfully thrown out, if anything it seemed teasing people was a past time of his.

[Cherry]

Yukino had gotten herself a seafood salad as Hana fought with this stranger. "You could try online for finding more fighters in clubs", she suggested after the princess spoke to him. It was a memory of younger days when she looked into hangout spots before that conceived this idea. Of course, that was back when she was a snooty brat, something she didn't want to remember. It was good to see Bermuda Triangle back and in action with their friend as well, especially with Pacifica's evolution. Ezel questioned what the difference was, stating that Pacifica didn't look that different. The queen responded that it's the eyes.

"But those eyes are sata-"

Ahmes stopped him from speaking any further of dark lords.

Then, Hana giving a direct eye-contact order for a salad with every possible vegetable proved Ezel's theory. Pacifica was definitely her avatar.

Yukino giggled to herself, seeing the waiter sweat.

"That's a lot."

[Jello]

Haruka tried to force a smile when he was posed these questions but neither proved to make him any happier. In fact, those were two of the reasons Haruka himself sort of, well, broke. His entire recovery was because those two things had affected him so severely. He felt a bit weaker all of a sudden, not really wanting food but just to lie down.

"Eh... Kagero. They're nice I guess. Something is kinda missing in the equation, but that's alright." Haruka made a subtle note about not having Overlord anymore. It was sort of getting to him now, realizing that the unit that had made the game for Haruka something worth enjoying had up and vanished from his side. Overlord was out there, he wasn't sealed anymore... but why did he leave him? This question was something that lingered in Haruka's head for a bit now.

"Yukino. Err. I couldn't tell you. She's somewhere I guess. Probably not on Cray, since she's been texting me and calling me. I don't think they have service there. Probably. But truth be told... it was a bit wrenching to see her just... bleed. And then disappear. I don't even know. Last I heard she was at her manor..."

He shrugged with a slight unsteadiness in his movements, taking a sip of the coffee that the waitress promptly got for them. His hands were sort of shaky, receiving the cup, but he was fine overall. The service here was quick though, which is a plus.

Nice!

[Hope]

"It's enough for two to share." The worker was still throwing things into the bowl.

Next up was the dressing, the the chicken. It ended up being a really giant bowl of salad. Certainly enough for two to ten people. At least there was enough to bring home to Mi-hime and possibly the rest of the hotel staff. It all totaled to a small number which was small at least for the Espoir family standards.

She took the giant bowl and sat down. People were either looking at awe at her or the bowl. She was hoping it was the bowl because she was proud of this really giant bowl of leaves.

[Cherry]

"... That looks like more than for two", a wide-eyed Yukino noted as the extravagant bowl of leaves was delivered. If only Dad Espoir was here... he could finish what they wouldn't be able to. They could box up some to take home and keep in edible condition, at least. Everyone back at the manor wouldn't mind trying New York's cuisine, hopefully. The queen was actually lost for a minute, unsure of how to start digging into this monster salad. Never mind the chicken. She was busy just looking around it to estimate measurements of the dish.

[Hope]

"I said two to... like fifteen...twenty.." Hana started eating, but it doesn't look like she was making a single dent on it. Whenever her fork would grab a bite, another layer would fall down and replace what she had taken. It was almost as if the salad was regenerating. It still tasted really good, though since it had basically everything, each bite had a different taste which was fun all in all.

"So what have you been doing? Glad to have the Blasters back?"

[Cherry]

Yukino took a couple bites herself. It felt good to be willingly eating instead of forcing meals just to live. However, the queen already knew they were never going to finish this bowl anytime this year. Akane, back at the Sanctuary, joked that only one with the greed of the demon world marquis could devour such a dish. The more she ate, the more the redhead was sounding right.

"I'm glad everything's back and more. I haven't been doing anything but preparing to move on."

When the declaration to go to Cray was made, Yukino wasn't sure if Hana was awake or not. It was assumed the princess didn't know, so the subject was avoided until she felt ready to say.

[AlwaysAwake]

"Oh." Was the sound he made after Haruka finished speaking, a look of displeasure fitting on his face with worry mixed. He had not stepped into just one emotional landmine but a dozen. He had inadvertently hurt his friend to be, a unforgivable action.

"I'm sorry, I guess I should have asked something lighter huh?" Trying to voice out his apology with the tone of his words as well. A small sigh followed after, deciding to reveal some information of his own.

"Something weirds happened with my cards as well to be fair, I've got Shadow Paladin back. Though, even if they feel different than before I feel odd having them. I did bad things with them before, so I'm a bit scared I'll do the same things. Yet at the same time I'm relieved they're back? Like old friends you made a mistake with, and you see them after awhile." The young man trying to word out his worries, the thoughts weighing on him for a bit. Truth be told he didn't feel like the person he used to be, he wasn't angry at the world anymore, and was truthfully hoping to become a better person than he ever was.

"I guess I'm hopeful and cautious. And willing to do well." Seemingly having decided on an answer, to a certain degree. Maybe talking about it out loud helped him? A certain part of Alexander also hoped that by sharing his own woes, itd help Haruka along with his. Sharing pain with one another tended to go better than bottling it up anyway often.

[Hope]

"Well, better not take too long to get moving..." She continued to eat, but she was just about full.

She placed her fork down and raised her hand to ask for a few boxes. The worker saw the giant bowl and offered to help them once Yukino was done eating. There wasn't much going through Hana's mind other than what her sister was planning to really do. She thought that it would be cool if she would maybe make an incentive past the beach concert to really make something happen, but another side of her had already lost hope in the woman.

[Jello]

"Eh... Right then..." Haruka sipped his coffee, holding the cup with both hands. He didn't want to impose anything on Alexander, considering they were still just recently friends. He ended up forcing a smile to him, trying to allow himself to relax. Haruka was really bad at relaxing under situations he hadn't been in before, such as questions about Yukino and his old ace. His best friend.

Things became clear when Alexander made mention of Shadow Paladins. That was his original clan? Fitting, in some ways Haruka supposed. But it wasn't exactly the way Haruka imagined Alex. He saw him as a fun, mostly cheerful guy in the end. There was something a bit off about him to begin with, but Haruka really couldn't judge the guy considering his own state at the moment.

He spent some time staring into his coffee. looking at his reflection. The feeling of being a shell was rising again. He felt sick. Very... very sick.

"Will you excuse me? For a moment..." Haruka proceeds to leave his seat and nearly dash into the restroom off to the back side of the diner.

[AlwaysAwake]

Alexander somewhat did the same as Haruka, eyeing his coffee. Having stuffed it with sugar and milk while sipping it from time to time. Though he would scan the area around him, looking outside as people went about their daily lives as if the incident two days ago was only another stepping stone towards tomorrow. One day total memory of loss of a large part of their life, the next as if it never happened. Then his mind went to Neu, questioning himself this for a moment.

"The American national champ, huh." Mumbling this as he looked to be thinking something about her. He was curious as to her motivations, and what would have pushed her to do all those things? Though, in the end it seemed like it was a happy ending type scenario, with Alexander vividly remembering Tsubasa carrying her out of one of those magical rift portal things. It seemed he had a lot of questions that needed answering, and boy was he going to find them somehow.

Though for now his mind returned to the daily life at hand, glancing at Haru as he spoke before giving a nod. "Oh, alright. Maybe the food will be here by the time your back" He'd hopefully say, believing in this image.