Chapter 275: Performing for an audience of one…plus four
At the same time as Zhen Liu was settling into his new intimidation studio with the assistance of Logos, Pathos was showing the girls into a room that Zhen Liu would swear looked like a home theater complete with a popcorn maker and bean bag chairs…but it also appeared to be connected directly to the aforementioned studio via a one way mirror.
The weird part though, these two rooms were on opposites sides of the building.
Interdimensional bullshit is funny.
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“Milady *munch munch*, I think this ‘popcorn’ substance is an addictive poison,” Matilda said between bites.
“Really?” *munch munch* “what makes you say that?,” Alicia asked also between bites.
“Because this is our third bag each and we don’t seem to be stopping any time soon,” Alicia said as she reached the bottom of the small bag…and proceeded to refill it.
“Fourth.”
“I mean…we can stop anytime we want…”
“But…do we want to?”
Meanwhile, in the same room.
“Bellona…are you okay?,” Jin Fang asked as she watched her sheepy counterpart essentially melt into a “bean bag” chair with the most blissed out look on her face.
“Well…I can now conclude with certainty that darling is definitely demonic.”
“W-why?”
“Because only a demon would keep something this comfortable a secret from the world,” Bellona said as she sunk deeper into the bean bag, “I don’t want to get up…”
Once the ladies were settled into the lounge area, Pathos decided it was time to bring the attention to the reason why they were brought to this room.
“I am never getting up from this chair.”
“Oh, neat.”
*Snap*
“Whoa, that’s bright.”
“Wait, is that Xiao Liu? Is that a throne room?”
“What on Valresta is he wearing?”
With a snap of Logos’s fingers, the theater’s screen blazed to life, showing the inside of the little studio that Zhen Liu was currently making use of.
On display for the girls to see, Zhen Liu was currently wearing an elborate set of purples robes and the mask he took from his mother’s torture case, while giving himself a pep talk of some sort.
“You are an arrogant bastard, you are an arrogant bastard, you are an arrogant bastard…,” Zhen Liu chanted to himself like it was a mantra as he paced back and forth for a couple moments, “you are an arrogant…okay.”
Once he was satisfied with saying that a few times, he stopped and settled into the throne that was behind him. While this was happening, the girls started to sit up in attention to see what Zhen Liu was doing exactly, with Pathos herself settling a bit more in the back of the lounge.
“Huh…I’m starting to get a sense of deja vu…,” Alicia commented as she watched Zhen Liu do his thing. More specifically, she remembered when they first met and Zhen Liu proceeded to do this whole “arrogant young master” bit. She didn’t think much about it at the time, but now she was starting to think that maybe this was a regular occurrence.
“Dear lord this room is flashy…well I guess it helps with what I’m planning…,” he muttered as he made himself more comfortable.
The moment he did so, the screen display modified itself to reveal another room shown at three different angles, little symbols representing Hurricroak, Nepherage and Frosttusk in the lower right-hand corner to show what was being shown in each of their points of view.
It was in this three way display that the girls got to see who was coordinating their stalkers, namely an old man and a young man about their age that looked similar to one another. A little text box appeared labelling the two of them as “Zhen Wang” and “Zhen Li”.
‘So these two must be the masters that those spies were referring to in their internal screaming…they do look sufficiently intimidating I suppose,’ Bellona commented as she willed herself to lift her head from the bean bag and stare at the display.
Under their gazes, they watched as the older man left the room and left the younger man, Zhen Li, alone with what appeared to be a scrying aether tool of some sort.
At first, not much happened.
The younger man being watched by the kaijin was just scrutinizing the mirror, while Zhen Liu was presumably seeing what they were seeing and sitting on the throne while looking like a crime boss.
But then, just as Zhen Li was about to exit the room, Zhen Liu sprung into action…well…he sprung into song.
“Ah, ah, I wouldn’t touch that door if I was you~,” Zhen Liu seemed to sing as he got up from his chair in a dramatic manner. At the same time, the display in Frosttusk’s point of view showed the door becoming frozen over.
The girls were shocked as they saw Zhen Liu suddenly act in such a bombastic manner.
“I’m sorry…what?”
And from here, it just got more dramatic.
They heard Zhen Liu as he sang this weirdly intimidating song, which with in conjunction with the kaijins’ displays kinda made sense, but it was still also a little weird.
Eventually, Zhen Liu returned to his seat in the throne and took up a very different seating posture, one that seemed to be the epitome of the word “arrogant.”
In this exact moment four different reactions occured amongst the audience.
‘Huh…so he’s less a mysterious enigma and more of a…dramatic stage actor,’ Matilda thought to herself with a strange look.
‘A dork…the first man I opened up to…is a massive dork,’ Bellona thought to herself while smiling to herself.
‘Huh…I wonder if he practices this stuff while no one is looking…,’ Alicia asked herself while looking at Zhen Liu’s performance with a mix of appreciation and second hand embarrassment.
Jin Fang on the other hand, was a bit more verbal.
“Xiao Liu…what was any of that?!,” Jin Fang quietly yelled as she displayed her confusion with gestures.
“At least have a weapon on display for additional intimidation,” she quickly added.
As soon as Jin Fang said that addition, the others in the room looked at her funny.
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Back in the aforementioned studio…
‘Why…do I feel like somebody’s watching me?’
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS
Mizako
Periodic reminder! I have commed artists to give kaijin designs, but they still need help in the form of bigger audiences and/or comms…but please spend responsibly.
This is the current artist highlight:
https://twitter.com/HauntFrost?t=iBsNsyFLUR3zE-zwEHRyZQ&s=09
