Polaris Dark - Chapter II Interlude

Sitting by the window of the limousine thinking about the upcoming formal dinner has gotten me in rather indifferent mood. On my mother's side, I inherited the historical line of the Izayoi, meaning even if my father was not the owner of the Arsenault Firm, I would still be part of an extremely wealthy family descended from ancient royalty of Japan.

Speaking of my father's ownership of the firm, Arsenault is the umbrella name for six separate multi-million dollar companies that run independently but help each other with their work. One company researches and constructs defensive weaponry for the government and is famous for their non-lethal tasers made exclusively for girls who wish to have some protection.

While the formal dinner is fancy and all, it is one of the people that will be attending that has me a little unwilling to go. You see, my parent's business partners have children around my age. Two of them are my closest friends while another two of them are on neutral ground. The last one, however, is a problem. The last person has a penchant for ignoring social norms and is blatantly lecherous and will do anything to get what he wants.

Although I dislike that last person, I cannot be selfish when this is a formal dinner arranged by multiple adults. During the ride to our destination, my parents and I converse about how I am doing at the private school I go to right now and how my studies are coming along. In return, I ask my parents how they are doing right now and how their work is going.

My parents love and care about me a lot, some times a little too much. My mother even confesses to me that she really missed the days when I was little and adorable. Speaking of time passing too quickly, we soon arrive at the restaurant we have a reservation at. The chauffeur stops at the entrance driveway and opens the door for my parents and I to get out. My parents go out first and then I slowly follow them out of the limousine.

As I step out, I fluff and brush my black formal dinner gown off to fix some of the folds. The gown itself is sleeveless, held together with white silken ribbons that tie the gown's straps together on my backside. The black silk covers most of my body and reaches down to my feet wearing four-inch stiletto high heel dress shoes. The gown itself is a multi-layer silken cloth with two outer layers translucent while the three inner layers are opaque to cover up my body.

Standing at approximately 165cm due to my high heels, I run a hand through my long silky black hair, fixed in a variation of the Hime cut where most of my hair is behind me with two long bangs resting in front of my shoulders, reaching down to the just above the center of my chest. I take a look around and see my reflection on the window, depicting how I look easily under the bright lighting of the luxury restaurant. I barely use any makeup even in such a formal setting, only a bit of soft pink blush, eyeliner and light-colored lipstick that is only a shade pinker than my normal lip color.

My mother is wearing a similar formal dinner gown as me but the color is a deep violet instead of black with golden yellow ribbons instead of white. Her own long black hair is done in an elegant pony tail while her dark brown eyes shimmer lightly. My father is wearing an Issey Miyake tuxedo suit. Turns out, Miyake is also responsible for the black turtlenecks that Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, is known for. His head of short, cropped, dyed black hair is slick and gelled back, making him look like some sort of yakuza or mafia boss even though he is just another extremely wealthy person with several multi-million dollar corporate businesses under his control.

As the three of us walk to the doorway, one of the doormen standing beside the entrance opens the door and welcomes us to the restaurant. My mother is standing at 171cm while wearing 4 inch heels, making her about 6cm taller than me. My father is 175cm tall without anything to boost his height, making him the tallest of our small family. My mother enters after my father while I enter after her.

The main entrance hall of the restaurant is lavishly decorated with crystal chandeliers, glimmering quartz pillars and multiple spherical crystal aquariums containing many exotic fish that is suspended in mid air. To the naked eye, it appears that the crystal aquariums are floating in middle air without any supports. In actuality, this is just powerful electromagnetic forces at work. The top and the bottom of the crystal spheres have been embedded with a special magnetic plates while the cylinders at the ceiling and on the floor generate the electromagnetic field to suspend the crystal aquarium in the air.

The three of us follow the attendant to our reservation tables quietly so we will not disturb the others in the front section of the restaurant. Soon, we arrive at our table where everyone except two of the business families that are having dinner with us. Everyone that are currently sitting at the table stands up and greet us with smiles and slight bows.

There are nine guests at the table right now not including the three of us that just arrived. Six adults and three teenagers around my age. As the adults greet each other then sit down at the tables, the three teens and I happily say hello and follow suit. We then start talking to each other about what we are currently doing at school and what we do in our free time.

After talking about the mundane, everyday things, we eventually reach the topic of Ascendancy as this VR game took the world by storm. Not only has Ascendancy taken over the MMORPG gaming community, they even have a TV series that follow one of the best players in the world.

"So," the girl wearing a dark blue formal dress asks me, "I'm guessing that you still have not played Ascendancy yet?"

The girl in question is one of my closest friends, her hair is dyed red and is done so that the front portion of the hair curls inward beautifully. She's about 4cm taller than me when wearing her four-inch high heels, making her stand at 169cm. Her name is Miyagi Arisa, heiress to her father's mega-corporate business firm "Angel Tears". This business produces and sells a multitude of perfume series and is one of the top five cosmetics companies in the entire world.

"Actually," I reply to here, "I just started today... though it was a bit forced since my instructors required us to be in Ascendancy for the classes in physics and chemistry."

The boy standing beside Arisa laughs quietly.

"Miyu-chan, I think you lost the bet with Arisa-chan."

I pout and wave his comment away. The boy's name is Suzuki Kouta, son of the Suzuki Technologies Inc. CEO that worked along side with Real Emotions Inc. on the development of RE Full Dive Capsule for VR immersion. The Suzuki Technologies Inc. is also responsible for the development of multiple mechanical contraptions used in hospitals to help lift patients, administer medicine and screen patients.

Suzuki Kouta is a boy standing at about 170cm with short, loosely cut black hair and a pair of inquisitive dark brown eyes. He is wearing a rather non-descript tuxedo that truly suits his appearance. Arisa and Kouta are my close friends from way back when I was studying at a regular public school (my mother's decision so that I would not become arrogant and snobbish with so much money in the family). Apparently, those two's parents had the same idea and the three of us became great friends.

The fourth boy, Suzuki Yoshirou, is just an acquaintance; the child of one of the business partners that have a share in the technology department of Suzuki Technologies Inc. and my father's Arsenault firm. His blond-streaked black hair is a little wavy and wild while his eyes, like most Japanese, are dark brown. Suzuki Yoshirou is a rather quiet boy that is rather shy to other people that are not his family or closest friends.

Yoshirou and Kouta sounds like brothers according to their last names but that is simply a coincidence.

After several minutes of conversation between adults and teens, the last two families arrive at the table. These two are not as wealthy or as influential as the families already here but control much of the important resources that other families' require for their work. As everyone greets each other again, I notice one of them secretly leering at me.

The blond haired, dark brown eyed teen doing so is the person I am slightly on edge with. Mori Shin stands at 177.8cm, a rather tall and handsome adolescent is seemingly well-mannered. When I say seemingly well-mannered, I mean that he only puts that facade up in the face of the public and his family.

Although I do not have proof of his actions, I've personally seen him acting out of this "face" of his twice, both times were by accident. Luckily, I was not noticed either times so he did not know that his front has been seen through. Although we greet each other normally, I can tell that he is faking the respect in his voice and is actually more than willing to do whatever he wishes to if there was no else around.

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A while later, waters and waitresses starts bringing the appetizer course dishes to our table. The appetizer course has three separate portions for each person. First is a small green salad topped with high-class caviar from sturgeon along with two gold leaves and a special restaurant original sauce. The second part is a small bowl of garlic-butter lobster bisque with rosemary and marjoram herbs. The third and last part of the appetizer course is four finely sliced pieces of Jamón ibérico with two small cubes of herb-Gouda cheese and a single marble-like ball of cheddar cheese infused with gold leaves and white truffles.

When everyone is done eating the appetizers, the same waiters and waitresses takes away the empty dishes and utensils and replaces them. After a while, nine professional butler-like waiters comes in with large plates each covered by a single silver dome to keep the heat and quality of the food up. As each waiter placed the plates down in front of each person seated on the table, another set of nine waiters come in and do the same for the other nine-people. Once everyone's plates are set on the table, the waiters take off and leave with the silver domes, revealing the delicious looking and smell food.

When reserving the restaurant, the people in the reservation are called and are given the menu through the phone or internet to show what each entrée looks like before they order. The dessert is also done the same way. Now, sitting at the table, we have the entrée set before us. Everyone ordered a different entrée when asked as I cannot see any duplicate plates on the table. In front of me is the dish I ordered: a steamed halibut steak topped with bay-leaf, almond-cream white wine sauce with a dash of lemon. There are also a couple strands of carrots, beans, and corn kernels as well. The sweet and savory smell of this dish makes me blush faintly as I enjoy the wonderful aroma it is emitting.

"Itadakimasu!"

With those words, everyone starts to eat.

There are not many interesting things that happen during the dinner except when Arisa tried to pierce a bean with her fork and it slipped and sent the bean flying at my face. I avoided it and everyone had a nice laugh; even though it's a formal dinner, it isn't exactly "professional". It was more like a casual dinner while wearing formal attire and eating with formal etiquette.

After everyone finishes their main course, the same butler-like waiters come in a line to pick up the used dishes and silverware and places a set of dessert silverware to replace the previous settings. Depending on what kind of dessert we ordered, the silverware would vary from a spoon or fork.

Again, everyone has different desserts brought to them. This time, it was a couple of professional waitresses that are dressed in the traditional french maid uniform... no, not the cosplay ones that you can see other teenage girls dress up in. The original french maid uniform seem like the cosplay ones but have skits reaching down to the wearer's feet and do not have the lacy bits that get in the way of work.

As the waitresses come in and place each diner's desserts in front of them, each covered up with a small semi-transparent glass dome. When everyone has their desserts in front of them, the waitresses take off the dome and then retreat out of the room. As for myself, I ordered a "Sorbetto Trio" with three flavors of sorbet ice cream: Lemon-Lime, Strawberry and Pomegranate. I savor every small spoonful of the ice cream slowly to prolong the flavor in my mouth.

Similar to the main course, it is rather quiet with only light conversations in between. Soon, everyone gets up and starts heading out with one of the attendants escorting us. Along with the reservation, we have already paid for the food and services before hand so all we need to do is come and enjoy then leave. While leaving, the parents talk quietly with each other while Arisa and Kouta happily chat with me. Arisa and Kouta both play Ascendancy, so they wish to meet me in the game when possible. Arisa and Kouta are together in another city at the moment so they will not be able to meet up that early on.

Once everyone leaves the building, we all say our goodbyes as our modes of transportation arrives. There are three standard limousines that come over to the entrance of the building as well as a small sedan limousine. My parents take the same limousine back to our home while I take the smaller sedan limousine back to the private academy's dorms. I'll need to get myself cleaned up and ready for bed.

Although I am cautious towards Shin, I never realized that he would be plotting something sinister against me, or rather, something that is going involve me in a rather... objectionable nature...

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