Excalibur Arisen

Chapter 5

In the morning I woke up refreshed and energized. Ahh, April 17th already, was it? Today's Molly's birthday, and I have something special planned out. We'd only been dating for three months, but I'd managed to buy her a ring. How I scraped up the money, I still cannot fathom. Where did I get the money from? I managed to find a part-time job from 9 AM-1 PM, and it paid $10 an hour. It cost a hefty amount, but for her, it was worth it. I only had had two other girlfriends before her, back when I was in my earlier teens, and those relationships both ended quickly.

In the afternoon, I took Molly to go see a movie she'd been wanting to see for a while. After that, we drove to a fancy restaurant to eat. It was there that I planned on giving her the ring.

After she had finished her well-done steak, she told me "This has been a great day. I got to see Pitch Perfect 2 and hang out with you at the same time. On top of that, you took me to this place, which is crazy expensive! Thank you, Remin." She leaned across the table to kiss me, and I did the same. At that moment, my mind screamed at me to show her the ring and ask for her hand in marriage, but I couldnt't do it. I just couldn't. I figured we should just let her celebrate her birthday today and her engagement day on different days. There was always tomorrow.

The next day, during part of our training session, Neutral took me to a hotel where the rest of the Kurikana clan resided.

"How do you afford rooms for everyone?! There must be some 300 men in here!" I asked, dumbfounded.

"I'm a friend of the hotel manager. As for rooms, we only take up 50 of the rooms on the 5th floor. And there's 500 of us, to be exact." He continued to show me into each of the rooms, where Kurikana gladly introduced themselves to me, and Neutral introduced me to them.

"Why are they all shirtless?" I observed, only noticing it for the first time.

"We wear the sign of the Kurikana clan proudly!!!" One of the members thundered.

"Easy, Lieutenant John," Neutral calmed him. "It was just a question."

"Yes, Commander, I aplogize. I can be a bit rough at times."

"Wait, you're a commander?" I questioned Neutral.

"Not a commander, boy, the Commander. I command these 500 men." I stared at him, dumbfounded.

"What, do I look too old for the position?" He laughed at his own joke. "It shouldn't surprise you, I, and not somebody else, came to you for a reason."

Yeah, for my mom, Remin thought humorously, but kept to himself. After meeting everyone, Neutral showed Remin and himself out of it and they walked together back to the forest.

"How was that date with my mom?" I asked Neutral mischievously.

"I-it was good," he answered, turning slightly red. "A-actually Remin, I have to tell you something...your mom and I are engaged."

"What?! Really??"

"Yeah. Shocking, I know, but we feel we're the perfect match for each other, and I proposed to her only two days ago, on our date."

"S-so that means you're my stepdad?" I stammered.

"Yeah..." he trailed off.

"I think you'd make a good stepdad, Neutral." We walked silently back after that for a while.

"So, what do you think of the Kurikana clan?" He asked.

"They're a likeable group of people," I admitted.

"Glad you think so, because I do too." He paused, a now-familiar gesture to me. "I wonder where the terrorists are. They were supposed to be here already."

"No use worrying about it now. Just gives us more time to prepare, right?" I assured him.

"Yes, I suppose so," he conceded. "Still, it's...unsettling." He appeared lost in thought. Five minutes later I left him, sitting in the forest in that exact same position.

"Goodbye, Dad." He didn't hear me.