I am lonely He couldnÆt deny it any longer And everyone always said that you donÆt look for love it comes and finds you But he had been working tirelessly to make Kharon a great city and during that time love had conspicuously given him the cold shoulder Even worse Arrietti felt like there was nothing that he could do about it now after working so hard for so long he wasnÆt even sure how he would go about trying to meet someone
In addition Arrietti understood that his current attitude was the wrong one to have If he wanted to change his situation he needed to first adjust his attitude With a grimace he stood from his comfortable chair and walked to the cabinet along the far long He took one second to drag a finger across the beautifully stained wood and then opened the door to his private liquor supply He should not seek out companionship just for companionshipÆs sake he should wait for the right person to appear and then turn his attention gradually to a relationship But dammit he had been waiting for so long
Commissioner ArriettiÆs eyelid twitched His bottles of liquor were empty He carefully shut the cabinet door Was it Wolfram
A walk Arrietti announced to the room IÆll take a walk The greatest skill a man can learn in the pursuit of a mate is legwork Never stop walking
No one answered his pronouncement there was no one in the room to here his pearls of wisdom He could have said anything at all and nothing would have changed with the lack of answer he received When no one heard no one would ever respond That feeling of powerlessness stung
The feeling of being adrift grew stronger
With his sadness steadily deepening Arrietti took his coat off the hanger and slipped into the heavy wool garment He actually liked this coat quite a bit The bottom was quite long but buttoning it made him feel vaguely like a private eye Which his sour mood was quick to point out was the sexy version of a police officer
It also was so heavy that if he closed his eyes he could just image that its weight on his shoulders was a loverÆs arms Needless to say that thought very quickly turned sour as well
Releasing a deep sigh Arrietti swept out of the precinct Fellow officers that were finishing up their shift or writing up reports stood at attention and nodded to him as he passed by them Obviously this was a show of respect but it only served as a display that made Arrietti more bitter The space between him as Commissioner and the average officer couldnÆt be more clear
Then he was out the door Luckily the cold wind of the outside world blew away ArriettiÆs mood In a way the implacable seasons were reassuring It wasnÆt currently snowing but the steely sky above Kharon made it seem like that lack of precipitation wouldnÆt last much longer He pulled up his collar and put his hands deep within his pockets fishing out his expensive leather gloves
Then he strode purposefully through KharonÆs streets wondering where he was going on this walk
Thankfully his feet eventually answered that question simply by virtue of continuing to carry him forward even while his mind was elsewhere So as he considered his limp prospects of meeting new people he arrived at the residential district of Kharon Then he kept walking past the tall apartment buildings into the wealthy section along the edge of the city which currently provided great views of the Orchard below
The street ended rather abruptly and there was a small sloped park along KharonÆs edge Two people sat hunched over a stone table on the left side of the park but otherwise the area was completely deserted The speed of his strides slowed but Arrietti quickly made it right up to the edge He carefully positioned his toes flush with the sharp drop off The wind whistled past him warning him of the great expanse below
Arrietti breathed in and then breathed out released a lung full of air that was cloudy with the cold He could just barely make out the shapes of people below walking through the different pathways that had been constructed for the tournament Farther to the South Arrietti could see the construction crews putting glass panes up in the windows of the new development in preparation for people to begin to move into the area His eyes automatically followed their methodical assemblage of the building
Sometimes it felt like witnessing something allowed him to be part of it
The day was turning to evening and the light from the sun peeking between the clouds was perfectly angled to reflect off of the completed windows They glowed golden like the eyes of a cat at night So for a while Arrietti stood and watched as these workers gradually heaved the glass upward and opened the eyes of this massive apartment monster one by one
Arrietti shook himself as a bout of laughter from the couple at the stone table woke him from his strange trance As he had suspected the cold and the exercise did a lot to alleviate his dreariness In fact he was starting to feel better already Even though that couple
Wait I recognize these voices Commissioner Arrietti thought glancing over his shoulder Then his eyes widened
A good game Huang Shou said with a small smile on his face
Miranda Hamilton shrugged her shoulders I lost
Few can lose with such grace Huang Shou consoled but from his tone it was clear that he took immense pleasure in his victory Even to ArriettiÆs eyes he was quite self satisfied Shall we play again
Of course The game of life is long and really I suspect I only have to win once in order to shatter your smug attitude Mrs Hamilton began to grumble toward the end of her sentence but overall the feel between the two of them was slightly
The corners of ArriettiÆs mouth sagged downward as he turned and began to walk back toward his empty apartment
Chapter 1460
Before Commissioner Arrietti arrived at his place he received a message that jolted him awake In spite of himself his heart began to rapidly beat
Klein would you like to meet me tonight
Arrietti was gobsmacked to see that the sender was Helen He straightened his spine and lifted his chin but then realized that she couldnÆt see him His posture didnÆt matter Coughing awkwardly he glanced around to make sure no one else had seen this embarrassing behavior and then flexed his fingers in preparation to reply On such short notice Well I suppose Where should we meet
Everything began to click together After training for so long within the Dungeon Helen had been exposed to his manly determination to the point that she found it irresistible ArriettiÆs face broke into a wide smile He was a seaman on a small fishing dingy who after an extremely long storm looked up and saw a wide blue sky
The training area HelenÆs answer immediately crushed any whimsical delusions that had so briefly been allowed to flourish in ArrietiÆs mind The reason the area above him seemed blue was because he was staring at the surface of the water from below His boat had already crashed upon dangerous shoals and sunk to th bottom of the sea You havenÆt tested the limits of your Class right LetÆs do it
Arrietti wiped a tear from the corner of his eye He walked woodenly like a puppet His soul disintegrated to nothing leaving him in a state of emotional nirvana
Desire is the root of all evil
Are both sides ready The referee asked The crowd howled its approval as Paolo and Kayle faced off against Tykes and Dinesh The air between them was thick with tension Randidly hid a smile behind his hand For all that people had been complaining about the bracket they were certainly excited by the prospect of the two semifinals matches Everyone believed the teams were pretty evenly matched
But as Randidly carefully spread his modest success with Nether weaving through the arena his eyes were on the two teams Both regarded each other with the utmost sincerity the two were old rivals from Donnyton They were familiar with each otherÆs capabilities But below the surface Nether was already beginning to shift There was weight to what would happen today
Randidly grinned his eyes two luminous emerald lanterns that released enough lumens to be visible even during the daylight hours He was looking forward to this fight just as much as the crowd was The referee raised his hand Then let the first semi final match of the duos tournament begin