An Excuse Maybe

Chapter 28

Trent shrugged.

"Sounds like a challenge to me." He said.

Brittany sighed.

"Alright, you can try. I don't know if they'll let you in but you can try." She said before turning to her music.

"First things first, you need to send in an audition tape." She said.

Trent smiled widely and nodded.

"Now which song do you want to use. They're really set on AKB48 songs so-?"

"Seaside Cherry sounds good." Trent chirped.

Brittany looked at him, giving him a weird look.

"Hey I love that song, don't judge me." He huffed.

Brittany rolled her eyes but smiled.

"Alright, let's get started."

---------------------------------------------------

While everyone was enjoying themselves, they felt a chill enter the room as Mandarin entered the command center. He hasn't had any sleep and his mood swings were on the search for blood.

No one moved or did anything as Mandarin placed himself near Otto, a plate filled with weird food combinations in one hand and another on his bump. Annoyed by the silence he narrowed his eyes.

"What's with the sudden silence? Afraid I might yell at someone for saying the wrong thing?" He asked, gripping the plate a bit.

Otto quickly turned to him and was about to snuggle him when Mandarin frowned at him.

"Not now, not in the mood." He said, causing Otto to sit back in his seat.

Chiro laughed nervously.

"It-it's just a quiet day today." He said, trying to get on Mandarin's good side.

Mandarin raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Is that why before I came up there was chatter amongst you?" He questioned, causing Chiro to sweat.

He frowned at him a bit more before eating, still annoyed. Chiro sighed, he was safe for now. Mandarin shivered before pushing away some olives.

"Why did I think having olives would be a good idea? I should have had grapes instead." He huffed, continuing to eat anyway.

Sprx and Gibson looked at each other, wanting to escape before Mandarin would explode at them. They began to get up and sneak away when Mandarin glared at them.

"And where are you going?" He sharply asked, causing the two to freeze where they stand.

The two slowly looked back at a now peeved Mandarin.

"What's the hurry you two, afraid that I might bite your heads off? Because that's not a bad idea given your behaviors right now." He huffed.

Gibson gulped as Sprx decided to be brave for a second.

"What did we do wrong now?" He asked, frustrated.

If looks could kill, the two would already be six feet under. Mandarin glared harder and no matter how much Otto tried to soothe him, his anger would not subside.

"You're avoiding me. Whenever I enter the room, most of you seem to leave pretty quickly." Mandarin accused.

Sprx and Gibson knew they were dead. It was true, his mood swings were getting worse and the two wanted to be as far away from the mess as possible. Tilamat said it was going to get worse before it would eventually edge away. His advice? Wear helmets and lots of armor.