The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

AT the same time, there was another person feeling bothered by the comments on the live broadcast. It was none other than Reas.

He and Ash were in the cafeteria to eat lunch. After their morning class ended, they quickly went here and both opened their Terminals to watch [Fieldtrip]'s live broadcast.

What they saw after clicking the live broadcast link was the three – Astrid, Lauren, and Miria – selling fish. Or rather, Astrid and Miria were attracting people's attention by their song while Lauren did all the sales talk. This was probably the second task after that first fishing task.

At first, Reas was only enjoying his brother's guitar playing. After all, it had been quite a while since he last heard it. But when he heard Lauren's sales talk, he couldn't stop his browse from furrowing.

[Why are you selling those as if you're seducing people?] – Reas silently grumbled in his mind.

But he knew that that was just how Lauren was. The other wasn't doing it on purpose to seduce people. That's just the way he was – charming and overly affectionate. Which was often the cause of misunderstanding between Lauren and other people. Hating him for that would be the same as hating him for who he was. So, no, Reas would never dislike Lauren for that. But that didn't mean he wouldn't feel frustrated.

Just like what he was feeling now.

The comments he was reading on the barrage didn't really help. In fact, it just worsened his frustration.

Most of them comments were of people shipping Lauren with his brother. Although he knew that was far from the truth, he still couldn't stop himself from feeling annoyed.

The comments became even worse when his brother started cooking and three finally had their lunch. He was this close to writing a comment. But he stopped himself. That's just way too juvenile. He wouldn't lower himself to the level of someone like @astridsnumber1fan.

He couldn't imagine himself arguing with people online. He wasn't even Lauren's fan in the first place. He was his friend. If he saw a malicious comment, of course he would defend him. But the problem was there were no such thing. So, replying to these comments just because it annoyed him would just make him childish.

In the first place, he's not even sure why he's annoyed. Which, ironically, made this whole situation more annoying.

"Is your brother's cooking really that good?"

Ash's question pulled Reas' attention away from his own thoughts.

"Yes," he answered automatically. "It's probably even better than most professional chef."

Ash raised his brow when he heard that. He was still a bit skeptical. But considering how Lauren and Miria Lane were eating so deliciously, it must indeed be the case.

He looked down at the unappetizing meal in front of him and suddenly felt like crying. Really, why couldn't this cafeteria produced dishes that were not only nutritious but delicious as well? But it seemed that this military academy only cared about the students receiving the proper amount of nutrients. They didn't really care about the students' pallet.

Remembering the dishes the three had enjoyed eating, he suddenly felt envious. Then Ash turned to Reas with twinkling gaze. "The food containers you usually bring after the weekend, did your brother make them?"

Reas nodded, unsure on why the other was suddenly asking sucgh a question.

"Can I get a taste next time?" Ash asked with puppy dog eyes. "I'm fine with just a bite. So, please? Please? Please?"

"Fine, so stop being annoying," Reas said pushing Ash's face away because every time the other said the word 'please', his face became closer and closer to him.

Ash grinned like a child who thought that he managed to trick an adult into doing his bidding. "Yes!"

Reas could only shook his head. Then he went back to watching the live broadcast once again. But when he saw the comments, his brows furrowed once more. So, he decisively turned off the chat and simply watched.

----------

"Congratulations on managing to cook some of those ingredients and turning them into simple meals everyone could enjoy," the host of the program team in charged of them said after suddenly appearing at the shabby kitchen where they had their lunch. "Astrid, especially, was definitely MVP, don't you think so as well?"

Both Miria and Lauren nodded their head enthusiastically as if they were the ones who made those dishes.

"You should really give him a reward for that," Lauren said with a playful expression as if teasing the program team.

Miria nodded in agreement.

The host chuckled. "We'll consider it. Now, we shall proceed to the third and last task for today's fieldtrip."

There was a few seconds of silence. The program would probably add some bgm to that later for the official airing during the weekends.

"Can you guess what this next task will be?" the host asked, as if to whet their appetite.

"Is it related to fishing?" Lauren asked in a very dry tone as if he had enough of the program team's nonsense.

"I rather like fishing," Astrid said with a smile.

"Argh, you're the only one here who will say that," Miria commented, rolling her eyes. Then, she looked at the camera following her. "Right?"

"Don't worry, you don't have to fish this time. But this task still had something to do with the marine life," the host said in a mysterious fashion.

"So, can you tell us now what it is?" Lauren said.

The host smiled like a mischievous child. "I could tell it to you right away, but where's the fun in that?"

Then, a car suddenly stopped in front and some of the staffs handed blindfolds to them. Without even asking, they already knew what would happen next.

So, the trio were suddenly shuttled off to a car, blindfolded. Once again, they had no idea on where they were going.

When the car stopped and the staff accompanying them in the car helped them go down, they were finally able to remove the blindfolds. And the scene that welcomed them was a sign saying, 'Atlantis'.

It's an aquarium.