I woke up yawning hard. I realized I overslept. I had a missed message from Tyler. I was still a bit groggy and noticed the time was TWELVE IN THE AFTERNOON?!

>Hey thanks man. Really appreciate the sentiment. I will be fine though.

About an hour after that message he sent another. Now I felt even worse thinking he must believe I was ignoring him or beating myself up over it. Well technically I sort of was, but it wasn’t too bad.

>You're okay man, you didn’t know.

I sighed and realized no point in trying to go further. I mulled over what to do now. I didn’t work until next week. I guess a shower and breakfast… er well, lunch is in order.

I did my best to shower quickly and plan where to eat. I guess I would grab a sandwich from a local bakery and head to work. Maybe meet a few new coworkers. Wouldn’t hurt right?

I made my way to work and saw it nearly completely empty. Were weekends actually slow at a game store?! I was greeted by a girl who seemed bubbly.

“Hello! Welcome to Vintage-”

“Home for games new and old.” She looked taken back for a second and then smiled.

“You must shop here often!” I felt like getting a chuckle so I decided to mess with her more.

“Yeah I’ve been coming to Vintage for a long time. I know quite a lot about the store too.” She looked pleased.

“That is great! Anything I can help out with?!” Her bubbly attitude made me remember Tyler but I was able to brush the thought away.

“I work here.” I said blankly. She looked stunned, then came the realization.

“Oh my gosh! You must be Mister Rains!” She bowed, throwing me off guard. Why does everyone bow?!

“Just call me Claude.” I replied nervously as she was seemingly crazy.

“Kay kay!” She then tapped her chin. “You don’t work today though?” I shrugged.

“Figured I would come meet some of my new coworkers.”

“Oh, I am so sorry! I am Ashley.”

“No worries. Glad to meet you Ashley, you seem chipper.” She smiled.

“Thanks!” A guy popped his head out from under the counter.

“You’re the new ASM? Oh.” The guy had a very flat voice and seemed bored.

“I am, who are you?” I questioned.

“Colton.” He replied before disappearing behind the counter again.

“Nice to meet you.” I added courteously.

“I can’t wait to work with you! You seem so cool!” I laughed.

“Well if this is your way of sucking up, it is working.” Ashley quickly looked at her watch.

“Oh it is three! I am free! Hehe!” She happily removed her name tag and ran to grab her things. “How about lunch?!” What? Did she really think going on a lunch date with her boss was a good idea? Whatever, I wanted food and I did come here with the intention of getting to know my staff. This is the third girl I am now technically going out with. Am I becoming a manwhore?

“Eh, why not.” She smiled.

“Great! Where to?” I sighed, this reminded me of Velatori.

“I was going to go to that local bakery and get a sandwich.”

“Then a sandwich it is!” We both left and Colton did not acknowledge nearly anything that just happened. Would he be alright alone? I did not overly worry about it yet. That is a future me problem.

“So how long have you been working at Vintage?” She turned to me spinning her purse.

“About seven months.” I nodded. “How about you?” I always wondered how this worked. When one person asks a question everyone seems to answer it then immediately reverse the question to the asker. Was this something that was taught secretly or instinctively throughout the generations? Were our ancestors doing the same thing? I shook my head to stop thinking about such useless things.

“A few years.” I did not care to really give a number.

“Oh, well it must have been a while for you to become an ASM!” I messed around with the cuff of my shirt while we talked.

“I guess.” Not really knowing how to respond, that is all I simply added.

“I have not really seen you around here before though, do you not live here?” I figured this topic was best left for when we got our food.

“I’ll tell you when we get seated. It is a bit of a long story and I am starving.” She smiled.

“Likewise!” With that we entered the place and were quickly seated. For once the restaurant wasn’t completely packed. Actually it was scary how slow it was for lunch time at a sandwich place. I didn’t let that discourage me and began to scan the menu.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Been here before?” I asked Ashley while I checked what seemed good.

“Nope.” She said poking the menu. “It looks good though.” I agreed.

Did not take long to get our orders and drinks. Even shortly after ordering we had our sandwiches. I began to munch down and noticed Ashley take the sandwich apart and remake it. That was odd but I didn’t really care that something as simple as that compared to what I have been through now is nothing.

“You enjoy working at Vintage?” I asked taking a sip of my water. What kind of place only has water to drink though? That was weird. Might explain the lack of patrons.

“It is a job.” I questioned this.

“What do you mean? Not really your type of thing?” She shrugged.

“I never was a gamer. Mostly work there for money. Times are rough so you have to get work wherever you can.” I nodded.

“Yeah.” I said a little static.

“Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy working with the people and helping customers, but just… not really my forte.” I laughed seeing as the once bubbly Ashley now seemed a bit hesitant.

“What do you enjoy then?” I asked.

“I prefer the outdoors. Going on long hikes, camping at cool spots and stuff like that. I am an outdoor bug. I need to be free.” She sat her sandwich down. “I really want to just retire and go be with nature.” I couldn’t hold back my laughter, getting a quizzical expression from her.

“Sorry, it is just hearing you talk about retirement when you can’t be over 20 years old just made me laugh.” She smiled.

“Does that sound dumb, huh?” I shook my head, once again feeling relieved it was seen.

“No, not at all. I would kill to never have to work again. I think it is great you have aspirations for the future and something to dream about.” She smiled warmly.

“I’m glad I don’t sound dumb then!” She giggled.

“Never be so hard on yourself. It isn’t good for your morale.” I realized how stupid that sounded after saying it but she seemed to agree.

“True. Thank you.” We began to eat with little to no conversation and she ended up taking a phone call and leaving me… and the bill. Strike one, I laughed in my head. It wasn’t expensive at all and I didn't mind.

I went back to my room and laid down, grabbed my laptop and messaged Tyler. He didn’t respond instantly and I noticed he was offline after the fact. Huh.

As soon as I was beginning to go and browse the good old internet I could hear commotion outside. At first it just sounded like two people talking at one another but things escalated quickly to yelling. I tossed my laptop aside and ran out my door to the hallway to see Tyler and Reiner going at it. But Reiner was actually standing, on what seemed to be false legs.

“You little vermin, how dare you speak to me in such a manner!” Tyler had a hoarse voice and he seemed extremely agitated. A few other students stood around, but not doing anything. Bystander effect be damned, I won’t let Tyler be treated like shit by this guy.

“No, you talked about my baby sister! You have no right to say she deserved what happened!” Tyler cried.

“As if someone related to some freak like you, she did have what's coming to her.” Before I had a chance to step in, Tyler took the first swing, nailing Reiner right in the face. Of course this sent Reiner falling way back and hitting the ground with a harsh thud. Now it seemed a pile on as all the students began to break this up.

Tyler was in some mode I didn't even know existed for him. He began to lash out at everyone. He knocked two guys away with but a simple back hand and swift kick. I slowly approached thinking he might respond to seeing a friend.

“H-hey, Ty my man. Calm down buddy.” He turned to me, looking absolutely pissed.

“Where were you! WHERE WERE YOU!?” I was then met with the same fate of Reiner, a hard hit to the face, making me fly back into the wall. I felt blood run from my nose and the tenderness it now had after that hit.

“T-tyler! St-top!” He would have nailed me again if three students got the better of him. Reiner laughed regardless of just being slammed.

“Pfft, pathetic.” He stumbled up and began to try and walk away, but Tyler once again in rage mode was not going to have it. He leaped at him, tossing the three guys on him off. Tyler was some sort of animal at this point. He was crying and screaming while just throwing punches. The pile on began again as he was tackled by the others just barely keeping him restrained.

It did not take long for a few nurses and security to arrive. It took three of these guards to pull and restrain Tyler. Reiner was also taken away to lord knows where. Right now between the hurting of my face and the chaos going on in my mind… I just let myself stop and let the nurse check on me.

I was taken to the hospital and into some room where I was treated and given some water. One of the guards came in and sat in a chair by me while the nurse did his thing.

“You alright kid?” He asked, his strong face seeming protective. He folded his arms and checked me out.

“Y-yeah, just more startled than anything.” He let out a sigh.

“Fights like that can’t be allowed to happen on a campus like this. Anything you can tell me about how this started?” He seemed to not really care about how I was and more about how he can prevent things like this. Can’t really blame him though as in a school like this, I could not even imagine the trauma suffered from fights.

“Reiner must have said something bad about Tyler’s sister and then the two went at it.” That really was all I knew.

“Hmm…” The guard nodded. “How devious were you involved?” He questioned, showing where I was clearly hit. “Got a hell of a bulb.”

“I tried to break it up and was coldcocked.” The guard sighed.

“Best thing to do is just call us. Innocent people being hurt isn’t going to help much. It will add to the paperwork and even worse in other circumstances.”

“Well he is my friend and I figured he would have stopped if I talked to him.” The guard looked at me puzzled.

“Kid listen. I hate to be like this, but people here aren’t normal. They won’t act like what normal people would do.” The nonstop use of normal began to make me cringe. “You never know what can happen at the slightest event. My job is to stop things like this from happening and having others be involved only makes matters worse. If you ever hear something like this or see anything for that matter, just call us. It is our job.” With that he was up and gone while the nurse let out a sigh.

“Feeling alright?” I nodded.

“Just mentally drained…” I took another good sip of the water.

“It is late, best go get some sleep. You are free to stay here, or return to your dorm.” I did not want to be here. I’ve always had a hatred for hospitals. The layout, the noises, and just the overall vibe.

“I’ll return home.”

“Want an escort?” I shrugged.

“I should be fine, just a small bloody nose. I will be good.” The nurse got up, patting my shoulder.

“You are strong. Keep in there.” With that I went home to sleep but never once even closed my eyes for what felt like three or four hours as I just let my mind race with thoughts, questions and all kinds of clouded memories. What a waste of a day… But poor Tyler…