Kuro wrinkled his nose at the smell coming from his fridge and closed the door. I suppose it’s been almost two and a half weeks since I’ve been home. Gross. “Looks like I need to go out shopping or I won’t have anything to eat today.”
“Are you going to call one of those girls to come help you?” Melanie inquired.
“No, I just sent them home insisting I could take care of things myself and that’s exactly what I plan to do.”
“I see.” Melanie said jotting down a few notes in her little green book.
Kuro struggled with the front door but still managed to get it open. His injury was harder to deal with than he was expecting. The grocery store wasn’t very far so he was confident it would be fine as long as he bought less than he normally carried. Even though he was upset he had to wait for food, he was looking forward to being outside walking again.
The air was cool but not uncomfortable. It was a beautiful autumn day and Kuro was grateful for it. Fall was his favorite time of year and he was a little worried he’d miss it if he spent too much time in the hospital. Kuro started towards the supermarket, which was only a few blocks down the street from his apartment.
“You seem more content than a moment ago, why would that be?” Melanie floated a few feet above the ground ahead of Kuro moving as he did.
“Its just nice to be outside is all.”
“You take joy in the little things I see, that’s interesting.”
“You kinda have to when that’s the most you have to look forward to.”
“You aren’t looking forward to seeing Mai again?”
“I’m not looking forward to dealing with the aftermath of when she stops feeling bad for me and figures out she doesn’t need to take care of me anymore.”
“I see, so you feel like her actions are based entirely on guilt.” Melanie seemed to take notes whenever they spoke.
“I’ve been through this before, I know how it goes.”
“What exactly are you referring to?”
“Shouldn’t you already know the answer to that?” Kuro said, a little louder and than he had intended.
An old man with gray hair stopped in front of Kuro and gave him a concerned look. “I’m not sure what the question was. I’ve got bad hearing you see. What is it you needed?” The old man wasn’t angry, just a little confused.
Kuro forgot no one else could see Melanie and he must have looked like he was yelling at the old man for no reason. “Oh, I’m sorry, I was just practicing for a play I’m in. Have a good day sir.”
“I see, I see! Well good luck with your acting career young man!” The old man encouragingly patted Kuro on his shoulder as he walked away.
“Damn it. I’m going to have to be more careful if I don’t want to end up in that padded room. Thanks to you.” Kuro said looking at Melanie.
“I don’t see why its my fault. You’re the one who can see me when he isn’t supposed to. If anything, this is your fault.” Melanie said as she let out a little laugh.
Whispering, Kuro replied, “Whatever, I’m just not going to talk to you in public.”
“That’s an excellent idea. You are a terrible liar.” Melanie giggled to herself, “A play was really the best you could come up with?”
Kuro was getting more frustrated with the situation, but they had finally made it to the supermarket. I’ll just grab something easy to make and go home. No problem. Kuro took a basket and headed straight for the instant noodle section.
“Are those any good? They appear to be lacking in substance.” Melanie said as she held a spicy instant noodle cup, inspecting its packaging.
Kuro whispered, “They’re not the healthiest meal but they are definitely easy to make and it’s easy to carry a lot of them.”
“I suppose that makes sense, but it wouldn’t be much more effort to boil some vegetables with these.”
“Look Mommy! That man’s magic!” A young boy’s voice said from the other end of the aisle. Kuro quickly snatched the noodle cup from Melanie as the child’s mother absent mindedly pulled her little one along, without noticing anything out of the ordinary.
“Are the things you pick up not invisible?!” Kuro said in an angry whisper.
“Of course not, that would be ridiculous. Only things from the divine realm are naturally invisible to mortals. Although if I wanted to, I may be able to extend my aura around a particular object or person, but that would take a great deal of effort.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Then could you please not be a poltergeist around me in public?”
“Oh, I see. I suppose that could cause trouble for you. Lady Ishtar told me I should interact with you to learn more about humans, but I don’t see a reason to deliberately disrupt your life any more than necessary.”
“Thank you, I’m relieved you feel that way. This is a lot to handle to be honest.”
“I may have a job to do but I’m not insensible. If you were detained for odd behaviors, it would hinder me as well. I will be able to learn a great deal more from you if you are free to do as you please.”
“Motivations aside, I still appreciate it.”
Kuro gathered some provisions for the next few days and quickly concluded his trip to the supermarket. He tried to be more mindful of Melanie on the way home. This is not going to be easy, is it? He watched as she floated ahead of him writing in her notebook, seemingly oblivious to what was going on around her. Which didn’t appear to be a problem as she phased through anything she might have bumped into. Kuro was a little jealous at how easy it would be to move around like that.
The bag Kuro carried wasn’t all that heavy, but it put some stress on his injury making it feel like more than it was. He shrugged his shoulder to try to alleviate some of the strain and suddenly the bag was much lighter. He looked down to see the bag had torn open and the contents had spilled onto the sidewalk. “Are you serious? I suppose this is just my luck.” He said as he collected his provisions and watched Melanie take more notes. Not only is this stuff going to keep happening, now I get to have an audience…
“You certainly do seem to have your share of misfortune.” Melanie said without looking up from her notebook.
Kuro continued on his way, holding his goods like he was cradling a baby. “Could the gods maybe do something about my rotten luck?”
“It’s possible but unlikely. The gods rarely involve themselves directly with humans. Apparently, it’s caused trouble in the past. That’s part of the reason we Fates exist.”
“I suppose that makes sense. Most of the stories about people meeting gods don’t end well now that I think about it.”
Kuro was happy to see his apartment building after his short but arduous journey to the supermarket. He was surprised to see a short man with greasy black hair taping something to his door. “Mr. Mondai? Did you need something?”
“Oh good, its you Raiku. This’ll save me some trouble. I am legally required to inform you that I have sold the properties here to another leasing company.”
Kuro was surprised his shady landlord would ever sell the place. The rent price was probably higher than it should have been but the area was so close to common necessities like the supermarket that people were willing to pay the higher rent to save money on transportation. And there was no way he spent any of it on maintenance. “What does that mean for us residents?”
“It’s not my problem anymore, but I hear the new owner plans to tear the place down and build some fancy apartments for their rich buddies.”
“But I have a lease! They can’t just kick me out, that’s against the law!”
“Yeah, yeah. Take it up with them. That paper there’s got all the details. I got a lot more of these to put up so figure this out on your own time, would ya?” The greasy man strode away, leaving Kuro by his front door.
“I really do have bad luck, don’t I?” Kuro said as he pulled the paper from his door and went into his little apartment. He threw down his armload of instant noodles on the kitchen counter and sat on the edge of his bed.
“Were you really that attached to this place?” Melanie asked as she scanned the room.
“Not particularly, but I don’t have the money to move all my stuff and even though this place is basically condemned it’s close enough to work I can walk. What the hell am I going to do now?”
“Perhaps you should read that paper in your hands?”
Kuro unfolded the crinkled up piece of paper, he hadn’t even realized he had crushed it, and began reading.
“What does it say?”
“It says they are going to demolish these apartments but are required to put all tenants up in a hotel until the renovations are complete. It also says all current lease agreements will be honored but will be renegotiated once they expire.”
“Do you consider this a bad thing?”
“It’s better than I was expecting since I was assuming I’d need to get a lawyer but, it’s not great. I’ll still have to move once my lease is up. The renovations will take a while and these people may even take too long on purpose, to keep any of the current residents from ever living in the new apartments. All they are required to do is give us a place to live for the remainder of our leases.”
“I see. So, this is just a way to remove the undesirables without causing a stir.”
“Basically, yes. It says here we can request a meeting with the new leasing company to discuss ‘future housing opportunities’. I’m sure its just more crappy apartments for more rent but I may as well see what they have to say. It’ll give me the chance to meet the scumbag kicking all these people out of their homes.”
Melanie glided through the air to where the instant noodles had been tossed down. “Are you going to make these in the near future? I would like to try one, if you don’t mind?”
“I thought you didn’t eat?”
“I don’t have to eat. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy trying new things. Since I can’t interfere with the people I’m observing, I haven’t had the opportunity to eat human food in quite some time.”
“So what do you call what you did today?”
“I was given special permission to interact with you, that’s different.”
“Fine, I can worry about this apartment stuff later. I did go out because I was hungry anyway.”
Melanie patiently watched as Kuro poured the freshly boiled water over the spicy noodles she had held earlier. Kuro thought she seemed oddly intent on observing the mundane process of instant noodle preparation. “Careful its hot.” Kuro said as he handed her the Styrofoam cup. Kuro couldn’t help but feel good watching her enjoy the cheap meal. She seemed to savor every bite with an expression of pure joy. “I didn’t realize Fates enjoyed ramen so much.” Kuro said as he slurped up his own noodles.
“This is my first time having such a thing. When not observing, we Fates must return to the Divine realm so the opportunity to enjoy earth food is extremely rare.”
“Have as much as you want then. These are cheap and I have plenty now.”
Kuro watched Melanie finish the last of her noodles with a satisfied look on her face. She really did seem to be experiencing something new and exciting. I can’t believe she’s never had ramen before. Well, at least someone gets to have a positive experience because of me. It’s not like she asked for this. Just another person temporarily stuck with me.
“No time like the present.” Kuro said as he tossed his empty cup in the trash. “I better set up an appointment with these leasing vultures.”