Sir and I called it quits not long after that. Nephusim was on official business apparently and neither Sir nor I felt like doing anything. Sir did however think I should ask to have dinner with the Mayor.

"He is just as important to you winning as either Nephusim or I."

And that's how I ended up in the Mayors dining hall at a table filled with food. One half of the table is clearly meant to be my food and at the other end is the Mayor. There's plates full of vegetable looking things, a thick red soup, three different kinds of meat, bread, and so many pastries that are meant for desert.

I'm trying really hard not to drool or to just take a bite out of everything, but Sir said to act twenty older than I am. Also, Sir must have sent Nephusim a note or something because when I got back to Bliss' home she handed me a package with a note

Michelangelo,
I heard about your dinner with the Mayor.
This is important, so for the best impression I acquired you a hakama
and a clean mask to wear to dinner. Be sure to clean up thoroughly
and do not wear any unnecessary bandages.
Footwear is not a staple item of clothing in Diam so you needn't worry.
Have fun!

-Nephusim

I really don't want to get any food on these clothes. They're really nice. The hakama is black and white, made of silk and a completely perfect fit for me (probably because there's magic involved). The mask is really nice too, I feel stupid wearing it because the tails go half way down my back, but it's so much cleaner than my other mask has ever been. Actually I feel kind of stupid wearing all of it.

"That was a fine display of power back in the town centre, Mick-elangelo… by Sir of course, not you!" He chuckles into his very big, very full cup of something. I think I have the same stuff in my cup and it smells kind of rank. It's dark green with even darker green flakes in it. I sip it to be polite and it tastes as bad as it smells, like three week old sewer water. Don't ask how I know that.

"Oh, I imagine that would be too mature a taste for someone as young as yourself. Please, just ask if you wish for something better suited to your palette."

The butler comes to take my cup and I just ask for water.

"Yeah, Sir is pretty amazing. I can imagine he won very easily when he competed in the Battles."

"Ah yes, I remember watching him compete in his final Battle forty something years ago. I was only a young tyke, but it was the first Battle I remember. He was outstanding. You're in very good hands, Mick." I can't take this.

"Actually Mayor, my name is pronounced Mike-elangelo, not Mick."

He scoffs and takes a bite out the leg if some bad pig look-a-like. I take that as a queue to start eating and pick at the vegetables and some meat. It all tastes a bit weird. He says through a full mouth, "Mick is far more dignified. But I guess it can be our own personal joke."

The Mayor throws his head back to laugh. I join him weakly. I don't get why it's so funny, but the further the Mayor tilts his head back the more obvious it becomes that he's wearing a toupee. It makes me feel a little bit better.

"So Mayor, are you married?" He seems to be the right age to have settled down ages ago, and his 'Mayoral Mansion', as the butler called it when he welcomed me in, is so huge it would make sense that more than just the Mayor and his staff live here.

"Oh no," the Mayor calms down and wipes a barely there tear out of the corner of his eye. "Single life for me. Very little time for personal connections when you're the Mayor. My only regular visitor outside of business is the butcher's daughter when she comes to clean my pet's pens. I wouldn't have it any other way mind you."

That sounds really sad and lonely, but I don't say it out loud. I just watch the Mayor take another big drink from his cup and try not to show what I'm thinking on my face, even though the guy is probably too self-absorbed to realise anyway.

"So Mickelangelo, are you married?"

"What?! No!" I almost drop my bread in my soup. The Mayor laughs again.

"Of course you aren't, you're too young for all of that! Saviour your youth," he chuckles before finishing what's in his cup and asking for a refill.

I want to ask how I'm supposed to do that when I'm about to be thrown into the Battles but think better of it. I don't want to think about it.

Just focus on the food, Mikey. Splinter will be amazed by how many vegetables you're eating!

"I don't think I've ever eaten so many vegetables in my life," I think out loud as I chew on what looks almost like roasted carrot but tastes like broccoli.

"A strapping young man like yourself? I don't believe it!" The Mayor has a really weird tone and I can't tell if he's playing dumb or trying to flatter me. I just smile.

"It's true. My father is always telling me I need to eat better." I dunk my bread in my soup and the Mayor quirks an eyebrow. That must not be something they do here. He smiles and tears off a piece of his bread and dunks it in his soup.

"Tell me about your father."

…

No.

No, I don't want to tell him. I want to keep my family out of this. I don't want them to have anything to do with this place,

"Did he teach you how to fight or was that someone else?" the Mayor prompts.

What my brothers wouldn't give to see this. Normally I can't shut up, but here I am wishing I didn't have to give this guy an answer.

"Yeah, umm… he's a master of ninjustu," I eventually choke out.

"He must have taught you well."

"Here's hoping." I cross my fingers and check to see if I'm making some kind of rude gesture. The Mayor just smiles and crosses his fingers too, he does look a little confused though.

"It's something we do on Earth," I gesture to my fingers. "When we want good luck."

"Luck has nothing to do with it! It's all about skill!" He takes a large bite out of is bread and a big swig of his drink. "Luck and hope are useless in the Battles."

"Yeah, it's about strength, skill and sportsmanship," I say, repeating the words Nephusim said to me that first night.

The Mayor chuckles and thrusts his cup in the air, "To Nexus!" he cheers with a beaming smile. I raise my cup and smile weakly.

"To Nexus."

So I moved and then started uni and my life is that but I'm gonna start working on this more. I need stress release. :)