While the whole group was caught up in an argument, there was one spectator among them who relished all the big emotions flowing through the room.
Vivi had blended into the room, disguising herself with the bright light on the ceiling. Nobody knew she was even there.
Michael would have called out to her, but thankfully, he was caught off guard by the presence of his mother that he completely forgot about his existence. This allowed her to do what she did best: just observe the situation from a third perspective and see how people's emotions unfold in real time.
"Ooh, that white-scaled lizard is angry. Her emotions are like that of a mother angry at her son, even though they are just siblings…"
She observed Zion and Sheina's argument and enjoyed what she was seeing. Being a third person perspective like this allowed her to see the emotions displayed by each party, giving her an omniscient view, a peek behind the curtain, with all their subtle change in expressions.
Even though this was the first time she met them, it felt like she knew them very intimately.
It was like an x-ray. She saw all the emotions flow out of their bodies, letting her discern the real truth of their argument.
For example, although Zion acted all bratty and mad at his sister, it all stemmed from the fact that he wanted to spend more time with her. That was why he always invited her to play board games and stuff. Of course, his timing wasn't really the best at times, like wanting to play games even today of all times, so Sheina would get mad and think that he was just slacking off.
Sheina wasn't really mad at Zion either. She just wanted him to act more mature and be the Dragonborn she knew he could be. She thought he was the best of all of them.
"Plus four! Hahahaha you can make a fan out of your cards, sis!" Zion teased.
It was then that Sheina put down the reverse card, allowing the flow of the game to turn counter-clockwise. Now, she had the chance to get her revenge.
"You'll see…," she muttered, with a bit of a smile sneaking in her mouth.
Vivi wanted nothing more than to consume their emotions and live vicariously through them.
Unfortunately, that would alert them of her presence. Michael would definitely force her to stop snooping.
Speaking of whom, Michael was exhibiting some interesting emotions as well. His cheeks were bright red from embarrassment and his ears were practically steaming as Lylia continued to tease him with Yuna.
"You should come visit our home soon, Yuna. You'll definitely love it there. Maybe you'll even want to move there permanently hihihi!"
Lylia continued to pester Yuna with not-so-subtle signs of trying to matchmake her with her son.
Michael wanted to bury his head in the ground. Imagine Lylia going to a globally famous artist's concert and suddenly screaming out onto the stage trying to get her to meet and date her son, who was sitting right next to her in the concert. That was what Michael was feeling right now.
"Mom…please, I'm begging you. Stop."
But it seemed that his flustered expression spurred his mother more.
"Look at him getting all embarrassed. Isn't he so cute, Yuna?"
Yuna covered her mouth as she tried not to laugh. She had always seen Michael as this talented, sparkly clean leader of Reborn with absolutely no flaws. But now, she was seeing a completely different side of him, one that was getting as red as a tomato.
She did admit it made him seem pretty cute.
"You should be here often, Miss Lylia," Yuna said, peeking a teasing look at Michael.
"That's a great idea, Yuna! I'll take you up on your offer."
Michael looked at Yuna, a look of complete betrayal on his face.
He mouthed the words: 'Why?'
Yuna just responded with a very adorable chuckle. She mouthed her reply back to him. 'Revenge for the ice cream!'
He had to shut up with that. Her complaint was totally valid. He had always put off her request of creating ice cream because he was so busy.
"Come on, let's just play," he said, hoping that the teasing would stop.
Unfortunately, his own allies betrayed him.
"It would be nice to have you here often," said Jaku. "It's the only time we can have a chance of beating the boss at a game."
Et tu, brute? Michael thought to himself, glaring at Jaku for the betrayal.
"I can help clear Lord Michael's schedule for a weekly board game night, Miss Lylia," Sheina said, already scribbling something out on her notebook.
"Hey, I didn't approve of that. I'm busy with a lot of projects!" he said to her. But she didn't seem to hear it at all.
"...yeah it's nice to have you here…," Umisu muttered under her breath, getting drowned out by the others' words.
"Master Mom! I'll definitely teleport you here whenever you like!" said Fudge.
He expected Fudge to do it, but he didn't expect even the Dragonborns to double-cross him. It was as if his mother had taken control of them!
"Guys, let's stop talking about me. How about Jaku? Let's make fun of how lazy he is! How about Zion? aren't the two of you arguing, Sheina?"
Everyone stayed silent for a few seconds, looking at each other.
"....so, Miss Lylia, would you be free on the weekends?" Sheina asked.
"Yehey! More board game nights!" Zion celebrated.
"You can't go if you don't do your training," Jaku retorted.
"How about you bro? You don't do it either!"
"I train by not moving. We're different."
"Of course I would be free on the weekends," Lylia replied to Sheina. "Yuna, you're free too, right?"
"Of course, Lylia!"
Everyone ignored Michael's plea and kept talking over him. They weren't even playing the game anymore at this point, which was quite weird since they were making plans of playing more board games in the future. He didn't understand it.
Meanwhile, Vivi, who had been observing everything from the background, couldn't help but look at this whole group with a solemn look on her face.
They were all arguing and speaking over each other, yet, there was an indescribable sense of warmth that spread all around them.
Right now, at this moment, everyone has the same emotion. And for the first time, Vivi didn't know what kind of emotion this was. She didn't even know this was possible. It was like humans discovering a new color for the first time.
As these emotions spread around everyone, Vivi herself felt something missing from her own heart.
It was aching, as if there was a hole inside of it. Somehow, watching Michael and the others play Uno made her feel injured.
"What's happening?" Vivi thought to herself.
Spurred on by curiosity, Vivi tasted the overflowing emotions in the room.
But even after consuming their emotions, it wasn't enough to understand the true feeling they were going through right now.
She felt even more empty.
She couldn't understand it. Usually, she would feel what others felt after consuming their emotions, making her feel full and satiated.
But after tasting their emotion, Vivi felt even hungrier. And no consumption of emotion would make her feel satisfied.
While she was in deep thought, Michael flashed a smile.
"Hehe…I almost forgot," he said, reaching out to the air and grabbing Vivi by her wings. "You have to play with us too. You won't get away that easily," he said, hoping to divert some of the attention away from him.