The whole restaurant became quiet upon hearing those words.
The three men that just walked in clearly smelled like trouble, no one wanted to mess with them.
But it seemed that the person sitting disagreed, deeming Ash's group to be a mere annoyance.
"Sorry?"
Ash replied without the slight kindness that was present in his prior words.
"You are annoying... munch... so... I... suggest you disappear."
"Huh!?"
Ash's reply was instantaneous, now even more annoyed by the guy's tone.
'Who does he think he is. I know I was a bit rude, but does he really think he's hot shit or something?'
Ash smashed one of his hand on the table leaning in closer to the guy sitting.
"And why should we disappear, are we supposed to be scared of you?"
Ash asked while a chilling smile showed on his face.
"Haah... you really don't know when to stop do you? Haven't you heared that it's rude to interrupt people while they are eating?"
Ash face started to show a hint of regret, realising he may have taken his childish young master act a bit too far.
Still he also felt the person sitting before him to be disproportionately rude, I mean Ash was nice enough... right?
"Or are you so deeply immersed in your act that you can't recognize when it's time to back off?"
Ash face stiffened, but he didn't pull back.
'He saw through that?'
Putting his half eaten burger down the boy placed on of his hands on Ash's shoulder.
"I'm feeling quite good today, so I'll give you another opportunity to disappear."
Ash could feel an unusual form of pressure exuding from the boy.
'Is he bluffing, or should I really back off.'
Ash briefly looked around to see his two men standing behind him.
'I can't back off as the young master I can't back off now.'
With his answer ready Ash didn't move, but also didn't reply.
"I guess you've made your decision... shame really."
In the next second the boy's other hand snapped, before everything around Ash became shrouded in darkness.
Regaining his senses he found himself standing in a space filled with only darkness.
Well there was one other "thing" present.
"You chose this."
The boy spoke to Ash in a condescending tone, before disappearing from where he stood.
'...What?'
Ash tried to understand his situation, but he was quick to feel something hitting his side.
He has been stabbed, without even the chance to notice.
Standing by his side with the knife in his hand stood the boy, who stood a few meters ahead just a second prior.
The knife was quickly pulled out and the boy disappeared once more.
'Fuck, where is he?'
Ash tried to understand the situation, but currently the only thing he could focus on was dodging the next potential attack.
'Delusion. I'll be able to sense where the next attack will come from.'
Activating his skill Ash was now more ready for what was coming.
Soon a feeling arose inside him, the next attack was coming.
Using his skill Ash quickly moved in accordance, to where the attack would be coming from.
*Swish*
Like lightning the boy came launching at him, but Ash was able to dodge in time.
The boy disappeared once again.
Ash knew that this couldn't go on, he had to do something, but he didn't have his sword with him... or atleast he shouldn't have had it with him.
That was when he checked it and felt the touch of his sword.
Not thinking too deeply about it Ash quickly pulled the sword out, waiting for an opportunity to attack.
Then it came again the feeling that he'd get attacked again.
He could have deflected the incoming attack, but chose to dodge instead trying to capitalize on the brief window where the boy was defenseless to strike.
As the strike came in Ash dodged, the knife missing him entirely and then using that moment he struck down.
*Clang*
The strike was deflected.
"So you can fight a bit."
The boy commented before disappearing again.
"Still it's far from enough..."
The voice reverberated throughout the entire space.
"You won't find success in Icarus."
Ash's eyes opened wider upon hearing the word Icarus being mentioned.
"What do you know about Icarus?"
Ash quickly shouted into the empty space, but instead of a reply he was welcomed by another strike.
"Just a bit more than you... special admission student."
The kid said with hint of mockery in his tone.
"Or I guess you're not one anymore..."
'Just how many people know about the ticket... seriously.'
"So did you pick a fight with me for the ticket, because as you've said I don't have it."
In the next moment another strike came this time as he wasn't too focused and Ash wasn't able to dodge and was struck.
"You really are dull, huh? What the hell are you talking about?"
The boy's tone was now full on annoyed.
"I knew from the start that you didn't have the ticket, besides you were the one that started this whole thing in the first place."
He pushed the knife further in.
"Maybe it's good that I beat you here, I'll save you the embarrassment of failing the application."
The pain was becoming worse, as the knife was getting pushed deeper inside.
Ash wanted to strike at the boy, but the awkward angle didn't allow him to land a proper hit.
"I will attend Icarus, whether you want to or not."
In that moment Ash's mind was overcame with a sudden burst of clarity as he looked down at his attacker.
'I should have used this earlier, Truth Seeker.'
Suddenly the dark space began to crumble, it only taking less than a second for it to completely fall apart.
Opening his eyes Ash found himself standing right where he was before, still leaning on the table.
In the next second a sudden pain spread through his body.
Unable to control himself he ended up caughing up some blood.
"As I've said you're not enough... though that last trick wasn't too bad."
The boy stood up picking up his hamburger before walking away.
Turning his head Ash could see, that his guards weren't moving to intervene.
As the figure slowly walked, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out waving it in Ash's direction.
'A Special Admission Ticket?'
But before Ash could even process it the boy completely disappeared.
As he disappeared Ash could see that the guards who were still before, began moving to check up on Ash's condition.
"...why... didn't you guys... stop him?"
Though still weakened Ash asked, since despite their appearances the two guards accompanying him were also rank two like Ash, they were certainly not weaklings.
"We couldn't... call it instinctual or whatever, but moving in that moment felt impossible."
"How... strong... was he?"
The two guards looked at each other with grim expressions before voicing their guess.
"I doubt he was above rank two..."
The words left Ash conflicted, as he himself was also rank two.
He could only think back to the words he said "you're not enough" it felt like he wasn't nearly as special as he had initially thought.
As the memory of the battle slowly subsided Ash looked around the restaurant to see the face of all people focused on him.
He had lost, lost after acting all cocky and he did so before the whole restaurant in a battle none of them could witness.
It was frankly embarrassing, no way around it.
Ash was once again confronted by the thought that he was just a big fish in a small pond and in truth was nothing special.
First it was the thief girl and now it was the burger boy.
It seemed he was destined to lose to his peers. Or maybe the special admission people were just that special, even if the girl wasn't even one prior to beating him... anyways.
Thanks to this loss Ash's young master persona completely shattered, returning to his more normal state.
After the three cleaned up the mess they made and ate their burger they headed back to base.
...
During the ride back.
"I want to say that today was a good day, but... I can't really say that... can I?"
Clyde said with a somewhat somber tone.
"I mean we did lose everything in the casino and also ended up making trouble in the restaurant."
Xavier replied agreeing with Clyde's comment.
"...I didn't hate it that much."
Ash commented, much to the surprise of the other two.
"Wait, young master, aren't you bothered that you lost to that... guy."
"Yeah I can't really see what good there was in it. Maybe the casino was a bit enjoyable even if we lost everything, but this?"
Ash chuckled for a brief moment.
"I'm not talking about the casino, I'm talking about the fight."
The two were confused, but continued listening.
"I guess I learned that I still had plenty of room to grow, it served to reign in my ego a bit."
Truthfully Ash didn't really need this beating as he had been reflecting on his strength since the robbery, but it helped him further solidify the fact that he was still lacking.
"Also one more thing."
Hearing this both Clyde and Xavier turned towards Ash.
"Yes, young master?"
"Yes, young master?"
Ash face showed a slight blush of embarrassement.
"Can you two please stop calling me young master!"