Guardians of Lapis-A New Age: Volume I

Chapter 22: Little Brothers

A few weeks after Scylla Fangs was back in business again, Reiko secretly spent some of her saved up prize money on tawdry things like extra stickers or a bedazzling glue gun.

"Lay it on me, Nagi!" She stood up at the stool recklessly squiggling it, "I'm all open!!"

"Yeah, no." Nagisa smiles at her fondly however she was prudent enough to reprimand the petite girl from danger to fun, serving both her and Rai who brought along his cousin Riva who's now a new member of the guild and Sora. Both youngsters had their usual while Riva tried rolled seaweed with raw fish and saucy shrimps on the side for the first time.

Lydia walks up to the bars with Gabriella and Ritsuha. "I'm not gonna have you slip up and fall on my watch, girly!" They heard Nagisa say, curiously they approached the scene as it fully paused when they sat down.

"Really Riva? That's what you're eating first thing in the morning?"

"Sushi rolls, nice choice." Lydia lifted her thumbs up.

"Are these things even edible?"

"Oh trust me, they're edible and extremely delicious."

"Which reminds me to ask you this." Gabriella turns her head to Reiko who was enjoying her favorite Lapisian dish a savory meatball fillings. "For a lightning guardian you sure eat plenty of...normal food cause like don't you have to zap it to be cooked enough of--"

"I don't eat anything out of the ordinary, unless they're things set on fire or totally burned like Kyo over there. Other than that I eat plenty of regular food but I mostly love sugar and pastries and fruits, of course." Reiko said, in a trance-like way taking a bite of her food.

"She has a sweet tooth." Lydia chirps in.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!!" A crusty old man entered the guildhall, screaming.

Reiko and Lydia turned around along with Ritsuha who was looking surprise too.

"That stuff with meat and all is extra calories for you, other than that I've struggled myself to lose a few pounds from it in my youth, so ya know just be careful or rather...stay away from it."

"Hey yeah...uh..who might you be?" Reiko asked skeptically.

Silence fell right in between them, "are you by chance one of Mrs Dimitrious's older-er brothers?"

"You're slick, kid."

"Grumpy looking in an almost snarky way...." Hid eyes twitch in irritation, "No offense to you."

"You must be Despina's old man!" With sparkles in her eyes, it's almost like Hans had a fan, she merely pulled out and handed a man a full on packed list of Despina's flaws right off the bat.

'Where did that...come from?'

Hans's state of mind was appalled at what he read, given that his family is going through some stuff right now. "Look kid, my daughter is perfect the way she is there's nothing wrong with her. For a minute I thought you were a fan of me, given how I was part of league of concil back in the day and also the one who singlehandedly took down many bad guys, alongside Tetsuya."

"Eh? no way, it's just all in your head, uncle." Lydia insisted on her word.

"Look kid, I'm just telling it like it is!! He took down like plenty before."

"You actually believe his stories?!"

"UGH... TODAY'S YOUTH IS IMPOSSIBLE."
He thought out loud, "anyway it was great seeing ya Ritsu and Gabbie. Say hi to Itsuki for me, will ya Riva?"