Theo put down his luggage in the hotel room.
As one would expect, the room wasn't that big, but it was clean and enough for him to live comfortably for a week or two. There was a bed, a bathroom, and a pair of table and chair for him to work.
After putting down his spears, he opened his Skylink, finding a message from Ellen and Alea.
They asked him to meet them in the lobby.
Of course, Theo didn't follow it immediately. Instead, he checked every door to make sure it was safe. Even if they were a small country that no one had high hope for, it was better safe than sorry.
He reached for the TV screen, turned it on, stood in front of the window and looked outside while listening to any kind of news. Even though it was in Italian, he got the translated version in his Skylink, so he didn't get bothered by it.
However, as one would expect from a Grand Competition surpassing even that of a soccer competition like FIFA, the Grand Gaia had taken over the media, elevating the scale of one competition to an Olympic.
He heard the ringing melody of the theme song and smiled. "Before thinking about the main stage, I need to come up with a way to fight against Indonesia and Australia in my block. There's a chance that we need to fight them, so we can't lose if we want to get into the top eight.
"The competition is still unknown, so I can only wait for the competition to start, albeit it's not going to be easy. A puzzle, a hunt, and a race, huh." Theo closed his eyes and took time to think about what kind of round it was.
After getting enough time alone in his room, he finally left the room and headed to the lobby, finding Alea and the others waiting for him.
"Theo, we are going to the stadium where we will fight in a few days. Wanna come with us?" Alea waved her hand while glancing at Ellen and the others.
"Has the instructor told us anything?" Theo asked first while looking at the lobby. It was quite bustling with people, especially since the entire city was in a festive mood.
He could see many decorations for the Grand Gaia Competition on the way. There were balloons, merchandise and other things that filled the city, making it even grander.
That was why the stadium might be packed with people even though the competition hadn't started yet.
"Yes. He said the training starts tomorrow. Right now, it's only 1 PM here, so Instructor Radvils said as long as we're back before 8 PM, everything is allowed. Just make sure we don't get lost."
Theo pondered for a moment and nodded. "Then, I guess we can relax for a bit today. Do you have any plan to—"
Before he finished, Alea, Ellen, and Phyrill actually took out a pamphlet showing a few locations.
Without giving any answer, Theo already knew they had plans.
"I know it's going to be like this." Theo let out a long sigh and said, "Alright. Let's go."
"Yeay!" Alea and Ellen had a high-five as they both managed to get the serious Theo out of the hotel.
When they had just left the hotel and turned to the left, ready to go sightseeing, they saw a young girl walking on the street alone.
She had long blue-colored hair tied into twin tails. Surprisingly, her face appeared a bit similar to Theo's, especially her dark blue eyes. She wore a white blouse with a belt tightly wrapped around her waist before it entered the inside of her knee-length skirt.
Due to her petite body, her walk wasn't a pleasant one. When she thought it couldn't be worse, a car stopped next to her and the window gradually came down, revealing two men with a smug smile.
"Hey, kid. You're not a native, aren't you? Are you separated from your parents? Do you want us to drive you to your hotel?" The guy said in English with a chuckle.
"…" The girl tilted her head in confusion before her eyes brightened, recalling something. She then asked them with a poker face… A question they never expected to hear. "Do you have candies?"
"Ehm…" The guy didn't know how to express his confusion and looked at his friend for a moment before replying, "Nope."
"Hmph?" She snorted and turned back, ignoring them. "Amateur."
"…" The two guys dumbfoundedly stared at her, not believing what they just heard. The driver 's face was distorted as he stuttered, "Wh-what did you say again?"
"Amateur. Not only do you not have any candy, but you also want me to spell it for you. You guys are not amateur anymore. You're pathetic." The girl shook her head in disappointment before her eyes looked forward, finding Theo's group.
It was then she froze, not even moving an inch.
"Hmm?" Alea widened her eyes as she felt something weird from this young girl but couldn't find what it was. She wanted to laugh at the earlier joke, but she realized she was caught in a trance.
Surprisingly, the other had started walking toward them and stopped right before Theo.
Theo looked the girl in the eyes and felt a weird sensation in his chest. He didn't know why but he felt this girl looked too much like him.
Without saying a single word, the girl gently grabbed Theo's right hand using her small hands and looked at him with a small smile.
"I have finally found you, Cousin."
"Huh?" The first "huh" came from his teammates and the two guys as they looked at the two.
'What did she say? Cousin?' Alea widened her eyes in confusion.
'Cousin? What? Did the girl just want to use Theo to escape from the two guys?' Ellen thought while glancing over the two guys.
'Pfft. How about you call him big brother instead?' Phyrill chuckled as the girl's petite body made her a perfect fit to be Theo's younger sister, considering they both had the same hair color. But then he realized, 'The same color?'
"Huh?" The second "Huh" came from Theo as the latter was stunned. He looked to the left, right, behind and found no one other than him, realizing it wasn't a mistake. He pointed at himself and looked at the girl before shouting. "Huh?!"