"Mmmmm," Rika sighed contentedly, leaning back in the corner booth.
Alden had to agree with the sentiment. It was a greasy place, sure, but Alden couldn't deny the excellent taste of the burgers and fries. He wasn't normally partial to fast food either. Whether it was the exhaustion or the company, it felt like divine cuisine.
The place was so small he was surprised it even had booths, but there were four lined up along the side, with red vinyl cushions slowly decaying from years of overuse. The main counter was only a few steps away, so close that it was practically impossible to get up when anyone was walking down the aisle. Behind the counter, the proprietor was busy grilling the next few burgers for a family of three that had walked in not long after Rika and Alden. From their friendly conversation with the genial balding man, Alden judged the place a local favorite.
"You've been here before," he stated, looking back at Rika. She frowned.
"Lucky guess?"
"No way you picked this place at random. The guy sounded like he knew your order too."
"You got me," Rika brushed her hair out of her face. "I've been to Rallsburg a few times before, to visit a friend. I met Dan around that time. We hit it off pretty well." The man behind the counter glanced up as he heard his name. Rika waved him off, before munching down a fry. "Why so suspicious, Zack?"
Alden took a sidelong glance at the family seated at the counter, far down at the opposite end of the tiny restaurant. He lowered his voice. "Can I trust you?"
"Is it possible to answer that question usefully?" Rika raised an eyebrow, chewing on a fry in the corner of her mouth while she spoke. "Either I say yes and I'm a great liar, or I say no and you're out of luck anyway. You gotta decide that one yourself."
"Well, uh, but..." he spluttered. He wasn't sure what answer he'd expected, but to hear her so frankly point out the flaw in his question broke his concentration. He took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Why did you ask me to join you?" he finally settled on.
"Because I don't believe in coincidence. Not anymore," Rika said calmly. "Look, Zack. You seem like an okay guy. You're clearly on a mission. And for whatever reason, you've shown up here in this dead end college town. And you ran into me. Twice." Rika munched down another fry. "Trust me on this though: the shit that goes down here, it's hardcore. You'd better be ready to commit if you're gonna head down this road any further."
Alden swallowed hard. He glanced at the envelope inside his coat pocket once again. Was he ready for whatever Rika was describing?
"Let me put it this way, kid. Have you read from the book?"
"Have I what?" Alden repeated, confused.
She shook her head. "Forget it. Nevermind."
"No, what does that mean?"
"I said forget it." Rika looked over at Dan. "Hey, can we get some more fries?"
"You got it, flower," Dan's deep voice rumbled from behind the counter.
Alden's mind was too easily sidetracked. "Flower?"
"It's one of the kanji of my name," Rika explained. "The second character means flower. Dan thinks he's super clever for knowing that, but he doesn't know a lick of Japanese otherwise. Anata wa bakadesu," she called to Dan, who just waved cheerily in return as he focused on his cooking.
Alden cleared his throat again, trying to get back on topic. "What did you mean by the book?"
Rika sighed. "Look, I'm probably not the one you want explaining that to you, okay? You could do a lot better than me if you really want to awaken."
"If I want to what?" Alden asked, even more confused. The family of three at the bar stood to leave. Alden glanced at them involuntarily as the door opened, feeling a compulsion to keep track of them at all times.
"You're paranoid as shit, aren't you?" she noted. "Probably smart, 'specially these days."
"Give me a straight answer," Alden asked impatiently.
Rika started to answer, but the door to the place suddenly burst open, slamming hard against the wall. Three guys walked in clearly looking for trouble. They were college age, probably late college by Alden's estimate. The leader was remarkably handsome and well-built—a typical good-looking college guy. Blonde hair, tall and strong figure, and warm, large brown eyes. Alden was surprised he wasn't perpetually wearing a polo shirt and khakis with the physique and complexion he had going on. His friends had the look down, but instead he seemed to be sporting the same basic attire as Rika—dark hooded sweatshirt and jeans, with a pouch fastened at his waist. His was much less elaborate than Rika's, consisting of a single black velvety bag with a white string holding it tightly closed.
Rika had to twist around to see them. "Shit," she murmured.
"What?" Alden asked in a low voice.
"Let's just say I know them," Rika whispered back. She sank low in the booth, and slowly began to put the hood over her head to hide the distinctive blue streak in her hair. It was too late.
"Hey, bitch!" The lead man's eyes locked on their booth. Alden could have sworn he grew a few inches as he approached, and not just from perspective.
"Hi Ryan. How's life?" Rika asked brightly, turning to face him. As she did, she sniffled a bit, and grabbed a napkin to wipe at her nose.
"Better than yours," Ryan glowered down at them. "You owe me. Time to pay up."
"For what?" she asked innocently.
"Two dozen shards of topaz that you bought off me at the market. You never delivered your end before you bailed. Who's this guy?" Ryan added, nodding at Alden.
"He's not awakened." Ryan seemed to take this odd statement without question, and didn't give Alden so much as a second glance. "Where the hell am I supposed to find nature-laid twin lizard eggs?" Rika added.
"Internet?" Ryan suggested, half-sarcastically.
"Screw that, I'm not ordering that shit online. Get them yourself."
"So use bitcoin or something. I don't care, but you're not leaving this dump until I get what's mine."
Alden didn't dare move a muscle. He was completely out of his depth in this confrontation, whatever it was about. Out of the corner of his eye, Alden saw Rika's hand gently unclasp one of the pouches on her belt, out of sight for Ryan or his cronies.
"Bitcoin's traceable as fuck, and besides, how am I supposed to get it to you when I can't leave this dump?" Rika asked pointedly.
"So give me my gems back."
"How'd you know I was back in town, anyway?" Rika deflected.
"We've got a guy," one of Ryan's guys piped up. Ryan shot him a look and he fell silent.
"Ooh. Ryan's moving up in the world. Got himself a reader," she taunted. Ryan glowered at his companion.
"Look, I—" Alden started. He wasn't sure why he was inserting himself into a heated and suddenly quite vulgar argument for the sake of a girl he'd just met, but he couldn't help himself.
"Stay out of this," Rika and Ryan said in unison. Alden quickly fell silent.
"Give me the eggs, or give me the topaz back. Simple as that," Ryan said.
"Oh Ryan. Is this because I stopped sleeping with you?" Rika teased.
"Why would you bang a board that flat anyway?" one of Ryan's cronies sneered, which quickly devolved into a back-and-forth about Rika's physical appearance between his minions.
"Maybe he's more of an ass-man."
"She doesn't got that either! Maybe he's a weeb."
Alden half-expected Rika to jump him then and there. She seemed like the quick-to-violence type. To his surprise, she ignored the jabs entirely, her eyes still locked on Ryan.
Ryan shook his head. "Just want the topaz," he grunted. Alden thought he detected a bit more anger in his voice after Rika's last comment, or maybe it was the catcalls from his friends. He couldn't help but think Rika was deliberately antagonising them and it couldn't be going anywhere healthy.
Still, what on earth were they arguing over? That was the weirdest part for Alden. The conversation and tone was clear, but the subjects made no sense. Gemstones and lizard eggs? What the hell was this? Alden was beyond confused. He decided to just stay silent. Hopefully it would end up making sense before much longer.
He was about to be very, very wrong.
Rika's hand began to move down to her belt, presumably to grab the topaz.
"Shit!" One of Ryan's guys reacted. Ryan began lifting a hand to stop him, but it was too late. The guy reached into his pocket and tossed something into the air. A few tiny rocks that glinted as they caught the light hanging above them.
Alden watched the crony's hand make a small gesture in midair, but it was too fast for him to see from a distance. More importantly, as the guy's fingers moved, the tiny objects he'd hurled started glowing.
Not just glowing. They were on fire. More importantly, they were hurtling right at Alden and Rika.
Alden froze in place. There were actual fireballs flying at him. Tiny, bright orange fireballs whizzing through midair at his chest.
Am I that tired?
Just as suddenly, he felt his hair stand on end. A blur of motion across from him and Rika's hand had flown up to point at the licks of flame. Alden would have sworn her hand teleported from the pouch on her belt, it moved so fast. The tiny fireballs were only halfway to his face when Rika made her move.
Tiny arcs of electricity crackled around her fingertips. Their appearance sounded a whipcrack echoing through the entire restaurant. Alden instinctively flinched, as did the trio opposite.
A brilliant blue arc spiked through the air, forming tiny connections with anything nearby as it whipped across the table to impact on the fireballs. The bolt crackled and split into three. Each branch struck a fireball directly, a strange mixture of glowing red and sharp blue.
It felt like slow motion as the three flecks of flame were pushed aside. Alden saw the sparkle of what looked like dust fall from Rika's hand. The orbs knocked into the wall all around them both, tiny impacts that quickly dissipated into small blackened rocks.
All of it happened in only a second, but Alden still felt the wash of heat and the rush of adrenaline in his head.
"Seth, what the fuck?" Ryan shouted at his companion, but they were both staring at Rika in terror, who had stood up. Even though he was presumably on her side, Alden was scared—but also thrilled. There was a low crackle of electricity, tiny arcs whipping along the streak of blue in her hair, like a cloudless storm hovering on the side of her face. He could feel the air around them energized from the activity, as the smell of ozone drifted past his nostrils, intoxicating and foreboding.
With her right hand still outstretched and her jacket sleeve having fallen away, Alden could see an intricate tattoo adorning her wrist. Two flowers, one black and one light pink sat on the back of her hand, with their stems intertwined and stretching back up her forearm a short distance. As he stared, another crackle accompanied a small brilliant bolt of lightning curling and snapping between two of her fingers.
"Get the hell out before I throw you out," Rika growled with such fury that Alden recoiled involuntarily in his seat.
Ryan didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed the arm of the guy who had fired at Rika and dragged him out of the restaurant, their other companion following. Dan stood stock still at the grill, his eyes wide. Alden would never forget the look on Rika's face at that moment—utterly suffused with fury. She was breathing heavily, as if she'd just run a fair distance.
"Zack, toss me those rubies," she said calmly, returning to her seat. She tried to relax into the chair, though it was obvious she was still worked up.
Alden spluttered back to life. With what he'd just witnessed, there was no way he was going to refuse anything she asked. He looked around and grabbed up the three blackened stones set into the wall, shaking the ash off of them before setting them on the table.
"Thanks." Rika picked them up, looking at them closely. "Nope." She tossed the first into one pouch. "Nope. Well, this one's not bad. Eh, one's better than nothing." She took out a small cloth from another pouch on her bag and started on the rock, wiping away the blackened edges as best she could. "Gonna have to get this a real polishing later. Hey Dan," she called out without looking.
"...Yeah?" Dan asked nervously.
"Those fries ready yet?"
"Oh. Yeah, one sec." Dan looked enormously relieved to have something normal to focus on. He turned around and busied himself with his cooking.
"Hope this is obvious, Dan, but please don't say anything about what you just saw. Yeah?" Rika said matter-of-factly.
"No shit," Dan muttered.
Rika grinned at Alden. "You good there, Zack?"
"...What are you?" Alden asked.
"O-positive. You?"
"I... What?"
"I'm human, idiot." Rika looked back at the gem, which was beginning to show small shades of red again, though many of the charred portions were clearly too much for her simple cloth to remove.
"But... what—"
"That's the best I'm going to get." Rika tossed the ruby into another pouch, then began looking around the table for something. Alden didn't know how to react to her statement. A few moments of silence passed before he finally spoke up again.
"What are you looking for?"
"I was hoping some of that topaz hadn't cracked, but it's all dust. Waste of perfectly good shards," Rika sighed.
"Are you going to give me a straight answer?" Alden asked angrily.
"You gonna tell me your real name?" Rika shot back.
He cleared his throat. Screw it, he decided. Better her than anyone else I've seen so far. "Alden. Alden Bensen."
She held out her hand. "Rika Nishimura. Pleasure." He shook it, and distinctly felt the electricity coursing through her body. It felt like her skin was thrumming with movement and energy. He grasped it firmly this time, and felt the current weave its way through him.
"How did you do that?" Alden asked, excitement and fear mixing pleasantly in his chest.
Rika grinned. "Short answer? Magic is real."