A Bolt of Hope

Chapter 54 - Sound of Lightning -

[A/N]

Hey everyone, I'm really sorry about having been inactive for a long while! December was a bit hectic for me but I'm glad to be back in the game! Hope you enjoy the chapter, I'll have another author's note at the end so please stick around!

"Then just go ahead and screw this thing in..." Leizcio mumbled, screwing in the last piece. As it finally went into place, the device made a little start-up noise.

"Okay! Now to see how much voltage it can take in..."

Holding the device, Leizcio's hands started to glow blue as he put energy into the device. It takes it in, not making a sound.

"Maybe just a bit more..."

Feeding it more energy, it started to make a humming noise and glow. It turned out to be successful for a moment but quickly started to fume a bit and make a weird noise.

"Wait no!" Leizcio said, trying to find out the problem but to no avail.

A burst of smoke erupted from the now-broken device, spreading it all over the place. Coughing and waving the smoke out of his face, he went and opened the window, fanning it out.

"Good thing I took off the smoke alarm before doing this..."

"Leizcio? What the hell happened? I heard an explosion come from upstairs!" Lavania asked, coughing from the smoke that still remained in the room.

"Uhm, just a little mistake?" He explained, lightly kicking the fire alarm under his bed.

"Just a little? You sure?"

"Yeah, pretty sure..."

"The room is filled with smoke! That's not a small mistake! And where's the fire alarm?!" She pointed out.

"It might've got broken when I did this..?" Leizcio said, making a horrible attempt at lying.

Lavania just sighed and pinched Leizcio by the ear.

"Ow?!"

"Look, I appreciate that you're doing what you want. But I'd prefer it if you didn't burn down the cafe. Besides, don't you have an arrangement at the festival a few blocks from here?"

"... Why did you remind me?"

"Because it's a job? You can't exactly go and skip on that? Plus you know they pay well over there!"

"Fine. I'll get my stuff and start heading over there then."

Still fanning out the smoke in front of him, he grabbed his guitar bag and headed out of his room.

'Should probably get something to drink before I go...'

Seeing Hisako walk up the stairs as he was about to leave, he noticed that she had a bottle of Palico in her hands. Feeling like messing around with her a bit, he snatched it out of her hands.

"Hey!"

"Sorry Hisako, just get another one from the fridge!"

"That was the last one."

"Uhhh, I'll buy you one when I come back!" Leizcio said, quickly leaving the cafe.

- - - - - - - - - -

Despite feeling guilty about taking Hisako's drink, he finished it and recycled it as he got to the festival. It felt welcoming as he walked into the festival grounds. Even though it was early in the day, there were groups of people starting to set up their booths and even others just enjoying the ones that were already up.