WE ALL WOKE UP WITH THIS TERRIBLE HANGOVER.

The wine was a bitch. We didn\'t really feel any dizziness from it last night, so Ellis and I just drank all the glasses we\'ve been served. Unexpectedly, this was the result.

We could barely move. I was just staring at him, but my entire body was immobile. Wait. Does that drink have some sort of poison or venom?

"Ellis… We need to get ready," I whispered.

"Five more minutes," said Ellis, which he has been saying for like, an hour, already.

After that, I heard a knock. Then, the door opened. It was Fei and Haru. They brought some breakfast for us. Haru was holding a paper bag and Fei was holding two cups. I\'m guessing those are coffee, which Ellis and I badly needed.

"Hi, sweetie," Fei greeted.

"Hey," is all I could say. I\'ve been a terrible drunk, really.

"Wake up," Haru pulled Ellis\'s hand, but it dropped like it was lifeless.

"I\'m awake. I just can\'t move. They put some numbing cream in the wine," Ellis joked.

Fei giggled. "You two sure had a great time last night."

"We did," I burped loud, which was really embarrassing especially in front of Fei, but whatever, I bet they do that too. They\'re also men.

"I brought some muffins, croissants, waffles. I don\'t know what you want, so I took whatever I can," Haru then put the paper bag beside Ellis.

"That\'s our call sign, Haru. Waffle. You\'re my waffle," Ellis burped out loud as well.

Fei then helped me go up and I leaned on his shoulder. Both of us then laughed when we heard that. Most especially, when we witnessed Haru\'s face blushed!

"Call sign? What are you talking about?" Haru uttered.

"For someone who is very intelligent, you can be dumb sometimes. It\'s like Fei and Trick call each other sweetie," Ellis stated. "You know those? Baby, darling, honey, boo."

"You\'re so tacky, and among all those, you chose Waffle? Stupid," Haru scoffed.

"You brought me waffles. You should\'ve brought me a jar of honey like Winnie the Pooh if you choose honey. Well, not a bad choice. Winnie the Pooh was only wearing a red shirt and nothing under," Ellis moaned after that.

Haru groaned. "Stop picturing me wearing only a red shirt. That\'s disgusting. Besides, I don\'t like red. I\'m more of a blue than red."

"I prefer nothing to any of those colors of shirts you\'re talking about. Anyway, just call me Waffle and we\'re good, okay?"

"You wish. Get up now," Haru said.

"I won\'t get up here until I hear you call me Waffle," Ellis said.

"Then sleep there forever. Or maybe call your new Thai friend who you were with last night. Bye," Haru went out of the room and slammed the door.

Fei and I were just giggling on the side.

"Thai friend, huh?" Fei said.

"Yeah, I think Ellis and Beam went along really well last night. I saw Haru getting annoyed every time he glanced at them," I uttered. Well, that\'s what I\'ve observed.

"Looks like it. Hey, have some coffee. Careful, okay? It\'s hot," Fei said as he gave me the cup of coffee. I sipped on it and even though it\'s really hot, somehow I felt okay.

"Ellis, get up now. The coffee is great. Have some," I said.

"Where\'s my waffle?" Ellis murmured.

"How about Pad Thai?" Fei joked.

Ellis groaned. "I want my delicious waffle."

"It\'s in the paper bag beside you," I said.

"No, I want my tall, mean, and handsome Manhattan Waffle. The one who went out of the room," Ellis sighed.

"I\'m not coming in," said Haru outside the room.

After hearing those words, Ellis surprisingly had this instant energy and he sprinted to the door and opened it. "Really? You\'re now my Manhattan Waffle?"

But he was talking to air. Haru wasn\'t there. Perhaps, he ran fast or made himself invisible or teleported or something.

Fei and I laughed at Ellis. The entire day was just like that. Full of laughter and banter courtesy of Ellis and Haru. Somehow, the thought of losing Oakley was filled with these little fun things happening at the moment.

Oh, I really miss him, even though we\'ve known each other for just a brief period of time…

***

Time flew so fast. Currently, we\'re in the Orkatta Dome for the first battle of the third level of the Krieg. The dome was so big, and there was no audience to watch us all. For now, until Jang-mi started to speak…

"Good day and welcome to the third level of The Krieg. Right now, the 24 teams are waiting for their fate, as we are going to have our first battle for today. To formally welcome you all, please put your hands together to the appointed director of The Krieg, Mr. Jager Borg."

All of a sudden, the dome was filled with these virtual audiences. They\'re people from various races in the forms of holograms. They all looked real, to be honest.

The Sovietskys were really using the most of the technology. I wonder how much do these people have to pay to witness the fights. After all, I would always think that money is a big factor in why these tournaments happen.

Jager Borg went to the platform and he was magnified on that big screen. "Hello, everyone and welcome to the Level 3 of The Krieg. Thank you very much for joining us today. This is now the cluster battle round where we will be witnessing at least three matches in one day. For today\'s battle, it will be decided by the Team Selector on the screen."

Surprisingly, all teams were in this montage where all of us in our battle stance, wearing our battle costumes. Of course, courtesy of the Sovietsky technology, which I believe, were taken during our Level 1 and 2 bouts. Perhaps, there were drones or micro-cameras around while we were doing the challenges.

The pictures of each team were shown in a roulette form. Then there were boxes on each side to find out which team will fight today. Even though there are only Ellis and me for the Queens team, we will represent our town. This is for Oakley too. We will do our best to win the tournament.

"Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?" Jager Borg asked.

The audience yelled so loudly! It was really wonderful to see as it feels like they\'re with us. However, the banging noise couldn\'t calm us down as it gets more intense than ever.

"The first team is…"

And the roulette on the left stopped. It showed…

"Manhattan Team!" shouted Jager.

My heart was beating so damn fast! Really? Again? Fei\'s team were called first one more time?

Now, I\'m beginning to think. Do they want to eliminate Fei\'s team that fast? Why are they choosing them first again?

I looked at him and hugged him. "Take care, sweetie," I said.

Fei stood up and kissed me on the cheek. "We\'ll be all right, sweetie."

Then, he smiled as if he wasn\'t affected by what happened. He knew this was coming, but this was too early to tell. Right now, nothing really matters to me but our survival. So, I\'m really praying that they will all win and the battles won\'t be that serious.

Ellis stood up and faced Haru. "Take care, Waffle."

Haru stood up and kissed Ellis on the cheek… almost! "We\'ll be all right… Waffle."

Ellis was petrified in his place. I hugged Haru instead and said good luck. I also hugged Jia and Dakarai ran towards us to wish his girlfriend good luck.

The three of them went to the center part of the ring. They all waved to the virtual audience who were cheering them. We, here, can\'t even speak at all.

Jager continued talking. "Against the Manhattan team is…"

Until now, my heart was still beating really speedy, so I breathed deeply and calmed myself down. This was really intense!

"The team that will be fighting the Manhattan team for today\'s battle is…"

The moment I saw the other team\'s battle stance, I almost fainted. Good thing, Ellis\'s petrified body was there to hang on to.

"Oh, gosh…"