Little Pilot Academia

Chapter 77

Hannah was a little surprised. Not only because the dining room was rather simple, just a long room with a table and a bunch of cushioned chairs, but because there were a lot of hot guys waiting for them. Most of them were adults - probably between twenty-five and forty - but Hannah had imagined just a bunch of old men. There were some adult women too, and she supposed they were fine too. The table had been prepared so that everyone could sit, and after the gym session and the nervousness of showering in their room - Hannah could totally imagine Amanda peeking through the keyhole or something to try and see her - it was nice to be able to sit down and relax. The members of the team were seated the closest to the group of executives, while the others far away. Hannah ended up sitting right next to a young man. There was no way in hell he was older than thirty, and he had short, golden hair that mixed perfectly with his deep blue eyes. He had a strong jaw line, accompanied with a perfect chin. All in all he was the textbook example of a handsome guy.

What was strange was that Hannah felt absolutely nothing when seeing him. She could tell that she should be flustered, she should be fidgety and happy to be next to him. Instead, what made her heart race was that Amanda sat next to her. Was she going to flirt with her in front of this group? She had said she'd tone it down in public but tone it down didn't mean stop.

"Hello, Miss England," the guy next to her said. "You look lovely," he had a pristine white smile, like that of an actor. Hanna was wearing the same blue dress she had worn on the party back in Machina, but this time it did stand out like it should.

"Thank you," Hannah said. She wondered if the guy was flirting, but when looking at him it was obvious that he had just politely complimented her. Should she be disappointed? She wasn't.

The guy in the head of the table was Paul Hanbridge. Sadly, Andrew wasn't there, though there was a free seat next to Paul. Maybe he was running late.

When Paul stood, he smiled. "Welcome home, representatives," he said, nodding in respect to the team. "And welcome home, all of their friends," he said to the rest. "We currently stand first in the leaderboard, and I believe that warrants a celebration." He raised a cup. Hannah noticed that the cups of every minor were filled with orange juice instead of wine. Amanda didn't seem happy about that. "To winning this race, and to the future of humanity," he cheered, and then he drank.

Every member of the team frowned. Future of humanity? The hell was he talking about?

They drank, but the question lingered in the air. Hannah was surprised Amanda didn't instantly reply to it. Or Diana, for that matter. Amanda was just looking down. Akko was kind of the only one who seemed to be oblivious to the whole thing, but the air kind of made her shut up.

The rest of the meal was... silent. Maybe it was because of how uncomfortable everyone was, but they barely spoke. Not only being in the room with a bunch of important people made them not want to screw up, the earlier comment was like a constant nagging on everyone's side. Just how important was this race? It was just a sports event. Yet, she couldn't ask. There was this... Pressure. She didn't want the one to push against it. Everyone was in a good mood, what if it soured everything?

It ended before anyone asked the question. Hannah was a little disappointed Andrew never showed up, and she wondered what could he have been doing.

When everyone politely exited the room, the first thing that happened was that Amanda walked in the direction opposite of everyone else. Jasminka and Constanze looked at her, maybe considering following, but both of them ended up shrugging and walking away.