Genshi frowned as he watched Mark leave the restaurant. Once Mark was gone, Genshi turned to gumi, who was still drinking calmly without bothering to pay attention to anything else around her. Genshi had only brought gumi to this dinner because he knew that Mark was far stronger than him, and Genshi didn't want a situation where he was subdued by Mark's power during the eting.
gumi being there gave Genshi an extra layer of confidence since he knew she could help him if things ever got more dangerous.
But after eting with Mark, Genshi realized that he really didn't need to have invited gumi at all. Mark might be the strongest man in the world, but there was a level of civility and rationality that Mark possessed, that most other people with power did not have. Genshi had t with both Gunter and the Russian president before, and Genshi knew that neither one of them would have been able to keep their cool the way Mark was able to during this eting, especially after hearing everything that Genshi just said. They would have started throwing fists before Genshi even finished talking!
Mark's disposition and the way he didn't bother to argue his point further than what was necessary made Genshi see him in a new light, and now Genshi was starting to rethink his stance on the information that Mark brought to him. What if Mark was right about the anima that snuck into the tournant?
Did these anima pose any form of threat to the tournant?
Genshi shook his head. No, that won't be possible. Genshi was sure that gumi would be more than capable of handling the anima once they showed themselves. And besides, they had already transported the anima to the island earlier for the tournant. Even if they wanted to do anything about this now, they couldn't. And they couldn't stop the entire tournant just because of a suspicion from one of the contestants.
They would go ahead with the tournant, and if it turned out that there really were anima that snuck into the tournant for whatever reason, then they would leave it to the superhumans on the island to take care of it.
…
[Are you nervous?]
Turner's voice ca through the loudspeaker of Tina's phone, which was lying on the bed beside Tina.
Tina was lying down in bed and scrolling through the Gurren Lagann manga on her tablet as she read through it for the tenth ti. Tina already knew every single thing that would happen in the manga, but it was so good that she couldn't get enough of it.
Turner had called Tina earlier to ask how she was feeling now that they were about to go into the contest. Turner hadn't been chosen to fight in the tournant, so he wasn't part of the eting where they discussed the battle strategy. Instead, Turner was hanging out with the other non-contestants. Tina had told him about how everyone there was the strongest from their own country and how most of them were a lot stronger than her, and that was what made Turner ask the question that he did.
Once Turner asked that question, Tina humd in confusion and turned to stare at the phone in surprise. Did Turner really think she was the sort of person to be nervous about sothing like this? On the other side of the phone, Turner laughed even before hearing Tina's answer.
[I guess you aren't then. Did Mark already tell you guys how you'll be fighting? I saw he was the captain during that opening ceremony earlier. I thought for sure that Alpha One would try to force himself into being the captain.]
Tina laughed and said that Alpha One had actually tried it and it was Alec who made Mark take the badge instead. Tina then explained the basics of the plan to Turner. She told him how they were going to be giving half of their crystals to Mark for him to hold onto, and they would hold onto the other half so that no matter who got knocked out of the contest, they would still be able to compete. Tina then grinned.
"I'm going to kill the most anima and make Marky super impressed!"
Turner sighed over the phone.
[Hey, Tina, don't tell you're still holding onto all that. You know the sort of person Mark is. Once he says sothing, he doesn't go back on it. Mark already refused you outright, and even Arit doesn't like—]
Tina slamd her tablet on the bed in frustration as she cut Turner off!
"I know, okay! You don't need to rub it in, you bastard! It's just… he accepted Luna. Even after Mark told I never had a chance, he still accepted Luna. If Luna was able to get into his heart, then doesn't that just an there's still a chance?"
Turner sighed again. Turner knew that Tina didn't stand a chance at all. It was like an impossible task that just wasn't ever going to work. Turner didn't know why Mark accepted Luna even though he rejected Tina, but Turner knew that there was a lot more to their story that they weren't telling the public. Tina didn't have anything in common with Mark at all! It was pointless for her to keep trying!
But even though Turner knew that things weren't going to work out, he couldn't just shoot down Tina's hope.
[I don't know why you want to be with Mark so badly. He hasn't even shown you a single bit of affection beyond being friends. At this point, you're just a fucking stalker.]
"Hey! I'm not a stalker! Mark knows I'm after him! If anything, I'm a suitor!"
[More like a soon-to-be victim. And you know that being a stalker isn't defined by whether or not the other person knows you're after them. It's the suitor who can't take a hint that turns into a stalker. Sigh~ Whatever, just make sure you don't do anything stupid when fighting in the tournant with Arit and Luna. Arit is stronger than you now, so she'll probably beat the hell out of you if you try and jump Mark like before, even as a joke. I'll talk to you later.]
"Yeah, yeah, just get outta here."
Beep!
The phone call ended, and Tina stared at her ceiling for a few seconds while thinking about what her brother said before she clicked her tongue in irritation once she rembered how Arit was now stronger than her.
That was the only reason why Tina was holding back so much from going after Mark. Both Arit and Luna were stronger than her, and no matter how much Tina trained, she wasn't able to get stronger than them since they were growing even faster than she was.
Tina knew that this was just a massive crush that she had on Mark, and if she waited long enough, then it might die out eventually. But Tina didn't like the fact that the first person she ever liked was soone that she couldn't ever be with. Tina always worked to get what she wanted, and she thought that if she just worked hard enough, she would be able to get Mark as well. Was she really not going to be able to get him?
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