Chapter 99 - 96. Rumors and Scandal
This was something new for Zein.
He never thought that a simple night run would turn into this. He was surprised enough that people recognized him outside, and seemed to be excited at the prospect of seeing him in the flesh.
But having paparazzi took pictures of him to be used as news...it dawned on him that he was now considered a public figure.
It could be said that this was his fault too. Disregarding his fame, he showed up in a civilian area, garnering attention. There were a lot of pictures of him in the convenience store going up on social media through those civilians. And the circulating pictures gave clues to news hunters.
Perhaps one of them got lucky and found Zein and Askan during the mere few minutes of them talking to each other.
Anyway, he couldn’t really blame anyone now, and had to quell the news himself.
When he walked through the lobby, he could hear murmurs and whispers. They would glance at Zein, and avert their gaze when the blue eyes caught them. The content of their conversation was obvious, and Zein didn’t blame them.
After calming Dheera and the other guides in the dorm, Zein searched for the news himself, and despite his annoyance, had to praise the photographer and the news writers.
He had no idea where they spied on him from, but it must have been quite far, if neither he nor Askan realized it. Despite the distance, however, the pictures were quite high quality, showing that the devices they used were top-tier.
In fact, it was so high-quality that they captured his face perfectly--or, his eyes, rather. And they chose the ones that sparked questions; when Askan bought Zein the water, when Askan whispered close to him, when they shook hands, when Askan laughed joyfully, and Zein’s blue eyes didn’t spark murder.
The choice and composition really made it seem like they were having a really friendly talk. It didn’t matter in any other setting, honestly, but with the background being almost midnight, and that it was an esper of Celestia guild who was known for their aggressive scouting, well...