A Knight's Loyalty | Food Fantasy AU Fanfic

Chapter 34 - If I Could Go Back in Time

"Who are you, and do you want?" the white-haired male Food Soul asked. Whiskey's expression drew pale.

"You should introduce yourself before asking others their names. Did you never learn manners?" Whiskey jokingly responded.

"I am Sanma Shioyaki, or Sanma for short. Now, who are you and what do you want?"

"I . . . ," Whiskey stood upright, Sanma's blade no longer a threat. ". . . am Whiskey. I'm here on behalf of a trade deal with Spaghetti. What's your purpose?"

"Why should we tell you?" the girl barked at him. "It's none of your business."

"Really?" Whiskey smirked, before suddenly appearing behind the girl. "Because as far as I know, you two and your friends are trespassers."

"-! Back off!"

"Why should I? Are you going to kill me or something?"

"Well! No . . . I couldn't if I tried . . . alone . . . !"

" 'Alone' . . . ?" Whiskey was amused for a bit, before disappearing again behind the girl, initiating an attack to her back with his elbow. ". . . You must be pretty full of yourself."

Before the attack could connect, a giant ring flew past Sanma, who was going to stop Whiskey, and pushed Whiskey's elbow off target enough for the Attendant to dodge.

"You must be pretty full of yourself, Whiskey," a different girl spoke from the shadows. She stepped from the dark revealing a pink persona, and was followed by a more angsty looking male. "Wanna test your skills?"

~

"What are you guys doing here?!" Kuri exclaimed towards the Food Souls. Mooncake beamed.

"Well, we managed to find the Chamber Room pretty quickly, so after a near brush with Spaghetti, we made our way here. I figured something bad might happen, and I'm glad we came!"

Salty seemed a bit annoyed, but left it alone. We both know what really happened.

"You two, something bad is going to happen and you're the only ones who can stop it," Caviar spoke hastily.

"Well, we're gonna be on enemy turf," Mooncake agreed. "Something bad is bound to happen."

"No, I mean fatally. You see that Attendant over there?" Caviar motioned to the female Attendant.

"Who, Kuri? What about her?"

"She's going to die. Inside of the throne room."

"What?!" Salty Tofu exclaimed. "How?!"

"Quiet down. In order for this to work, the two of you need to act normal. Do what you would normally do. Mooncake will suggest splitting up to find the throne room and Chamber Room separately, and Salty will complain.

"After the four of you have split up, the Chamber Room is in this order of hallways, left, go straight, and then take a right turn. You'll reach it after a few doors. Make it there fast enough and you'll avoid fighting Spaghetti. Memorize the path.

"Afterwards, get to the throne room as fast as possible. You should arrive to see the Attendant and Sanma fighting a man with a suitcase. When he's about to hit the Attendant in the back, stop him before Sanma does. If you fail, the Attendant dies, so plan it accordingly."

"Or, we could just not split up," Salty objected. "The we don't have to take that risk."

"If you mess with time too much, you'll get a more unpleasant ending. Besides, this is war - you need to take risks. Furhermore, knowing the location of the Chamber Room will help you, and fighting Whiskey - the man with the suitcase - will generate enough noise so that Spaghetti will refuse anyone entrance to any rooms, and it will be virtually impossible to reach the Chamber Room, especially without Spaghetti knowing."

"I don't like this. It seems way too dumb, what if we just switch positions?" Mooncake suggested. Salty nodded.

"The Attendant is smart. It'll be much worse if you two encountered Whiskey anyways, so just trust me on this, okay?"

". . . Alright . . ."

"Good. You two need to go now. Farewell."

Salty sighed in remembrance of all this. Mooncake quickly entered the room and approached Whiskey - the man with the suitcase.

"And you know my name why?" Whiskey wondered aloud. Mooncake froze a second.

"You've a reputation to rival mine I'd say. How could I not know you on sight?"

"Flattery. How entertaining. I'll accept it this time." Whiskey set down his suitcase and began approaching Sanma and Mooncake. "But that won't stop me from getting what I want."

"That's not what really happened, is it?" Kuri whispered to Salty, having reached him in a matter of seconds. "Mooncake is talented, but she didn't know the way here anyway."

". . . Caviar was right," Salty responded. "You are smart." He sighed.

"What is it?" Kuri asked. "I mean, what was going to happen?"

"Caviar told us you were going . . . Nevermind . . ."

"That's a real cliffhanger, you know! You don't do that to people! I can handle it, you know!"

". . . You really think so? Like, seriously?"

"I can handle anything. Just tell me!"

". . . He said you were going to die." Salty Tofu tried to avoid looking at Kuri's face.

". . . That's pretty morbid. You guys appeared pretty early for that though, are you sure it's okay?"

"Actually, we just barely saved you. He said to stop Whiskey at that precise instant, before Sanma did, otherwise you'd die."

"That soon? That was a tight save, wasn't it?"

"Apparently. It would've been our faults, too, if you died. So I'm glad Mooncake didn't fail."

~

Caviar could only hope that Mooncake and Salty Tofu could pull it off. It would certainly be tough, but he had faith in those two.

Vodka, Double Scoop, and Ryouri had entered already, and would shortly be catching up to the front-liners. Then, Caviar, Catcakes, Brownie, and the rest of the URs would finish the battle team.

It seemed almost uneventful otherwise. Caviar, for once, wasn't putting himself on the line. Perhaps, however, it would be useful to speak with B-52 prior.

"B-52, can I have a word with you?" Caviar requested. B-52 nodded. "In private, please."

The two hung back from the crowd and lowered their volume. Caviar sighed before speaking.

"What we're doing is risky, you know. A wrong move could not just lose the battle, but the war altogether, with unimaginable casualties," Caviar began.

"Of course. Everything needs to be taken from the most logical stand point," B-52 agreed.

"Well, then you need to stay focused as well. You may be a robot, but you were becoming more human by the week, then day, hour - now it's by the minute. I don't know if anyone else has realized, but I've noticed."

"What do you mean? And in what manner?"

"You have a better grasp of emotions than in the past. Before you just did as told, and I can recall. Now, when you rationalize, you take others into consideration, rather than doing what's most convenient or effective.

"Like back at Catcakes' place. The old you most likely wouldn't have waited for the female Attendant to move, and would've just acted, right?"

". . . I suppose you are correct. I probably would've."

"So you've grown. And emotions make the person. Now, you understand more and more what being human means - having emotions, being considerate, et cetera. So, I worry that during this battle . . ." Caviar trailed off.

"What about this battle? Is something wrong?"

Nothing has happened yet, so I can't be too decisive. "I may be wrong, but I worry you might act outside of reason."