I slipped on my blazer then looked myself over. I had only gotten dressed this snazzy for special occasions which weren't many. "Hey, are you okay?" I had forgotten I was at his place. "Yeah." "Then come on out. We'll be late." I opened the door then noticed he was dressed nicely as well. "Are you heading out after dropping me off?" "I guess you could say that." I followed him to the front door and wondered if his parents were home. "They're not home. Left to visit family." "How did you-" He ushered me out the door.

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I sat quietly as he drove along the road. "Do you want the radio on?" "Sure." Music started to play and joined in with the sound of the car. "Ryoken." "Yeah?" "How did you know where I got invited to?" "Should I tell you now?" "What do you mean?" He had my attention. I had turned my body around to face him. "I was invited as well. Plus, it didn't take much to put two and two together." I frowned as I looked at the invitation again. "Why did they even invite me..." "I'll admit, I'm surprised too." I poised to hit his arm then remembered he was driving. "I'll get you later."

The ride was silent again and I was thankful for it. "Hey, Yusaku." "What?" "Will you be okay by yourself?" I looked at him in confusion. "Of course I will be." "So, once we enter, you won't once come looking for me?" "Not at all." "How about we make a bet?" "I'm not buying into it. I know exactly what you want." He remained silent as he took an exit off the highway. "Okay then." He sounded a bit disappointed, but I didn't want to entertain the idea he had.

"We're almost there." I nodded. I looked at him then sighed. "What's the bet about?" I could've swore I saw him light up at my slight interest. "If you successfully go the entire party without seeking me out, I'll permanently leave your life. No more calls, texts, whatever. If you do the opposite, you'll have to accept me as a part of your life. And give me my refund." I knew what he demand would be, but I was curious as to what he'd give up. "Alright, I accept. Get ready to leave my life."

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We walked up to the doors and he held it open for me. "See you after 12, unless you cave first." I rolled my eyes then walked in. It was packed. I worked my way through and ended up in another room. I looked around to see if anyone in the room was worth talking to. They all seemed older than me, and I wasn't fond of interacting with adults. "Hey young thing." She appeared me with a drink in hand. "Evening." I briefly looked away to see if I could find an escape route. "Did you come here alone or with someone?" "What's it to you?" I inched my way into the crowd as I didn't want to interact with her any longer.

I found myself up on the second floor, sitting alone in a room. I had managed to dodge making conversation with the adults and made good enough conversation with people I had slight interest. I checked my watch then groaned as it had only been 10 minutes since we arrived. I looked around the room and took in its design. I couldn't quite make out what color the wallpaper was as it was a dark color. I decided to look out the window and see what I had a view of. It wasn't much, but had a view of a fountain, a few bushes and scattered flowers.

I heard the door open and quickly hid in the closet. The door was then locked and I could already tell what would come next. To my surprise, it was the opposite. "I'm telling you right now, if you don't hand over the document before the new year, this place will be blown to pieces." The other person didn't respond and it worried me to the core. I peeked out and saw that she was on the phone. The woman hung up and left the room with an angry grunt. "I honestly don't want to stay here any longer, but what would he think..."

I weighed my options by the pros and cons then came to the conclusion that living was more important than a stupid bet. I hurried out the room in search of Ryoken. I stopped at the top of the stairs as the crowd had grown since we got here. I sucked it up and made my way down to locate my ride home. I was constantly pushed around as I pushed through the crowd. A part of me believed I'd end up dying this way. Either squished to death or trampled over. I ended up in an u familiar room and proceeded to look around for the silvery haired annoyance.

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I couldn't find him anywhere. Did I not check everywhere? I was sure I had. Everywhere I had access to anyway. "Maybe he's someplace I'm not allowed in..." I asked a few servers about areas that certain people are invited to and asked about how I could get invited. "It should be stated in your invitation and you can just show it. Each invitation is different, so there's no way anyone can pretend to be someone else." "Thanks..." I looked over mine then scowled. I only had access to some secret garden. I didn't even know where in this vast place it could be located. Was it even a garden?

"Ah, the garden. I can take you there." I turned around and saw the same server. "That would be helpful." He walked on ahead and I followed close behind in hopes that Ryoken would be there so we could get the hell out of here. We made a few turns and ended up walking outside then stopping in front of a door. "It's in there?" "Yes." So it wasn't an actual garden with flowers and other plants. "Thanks." I opened the door and was surprised by the art that decorated the walls and the ceiling. It consisted of a variety of flowers that flowed into each other which then made up a bigger flower.