The clouds of dawn brought forth to the Barrio’s façade an arid cold. The night before, Ryu had prepared Kali’s humble room on the second floor, one without bedsheets, though veiled in the scent of detergent. Mosquitoes basked in Kali’s humanity, and all the other insects were there to join the party. The door had been opened by none other than the boy who struggled to sleep through the night.

Anito’s eyes and stomach were unsatisfied, his bottom glued to the bamboo couch below him. He groggily stared at the rotating ceiling fan, but he didn’t mind the blizzard. Only tranquility aided him, but three knocks on the door took that away from Anito, too.

From behind the door, an old man’s voice. “Ryu? Ryu!?”

Anito thought it was a bad idea to open the door to a stranger he never met before, so he opened it. The sun’s rays had birthed a corona within the stranger so strong that Anito’s eyes ignited on fire. His uncanny physical response didn’t matter to the stranger, though. However, the presence of a male child in the house, at least for him, was a matter of national security.

“Son of a-- Ryu!” The stranger complained as his bulging body made its way upstairs. It wasn’t a creepy sight to behold, he was just sporting a maroon polo shirt, an identification card, and a sling bag. He also had graded glasses, though it would be of better use to Anito—for now. The poor ghoul had no idea he had left for Ryu’s room, not because he was blinded or stupid but because he was just so tired that his brain stopped.

The stranger knocked hard on Ryu’s room. “Ryuka Isabel Del Rosario, I DEMAND you to wake up!”

“Uncle, school’s over. You don’t need to knock THAT hard.” She replied from behind the door, having been abruptly woken up. She opens the door to a quite bewildered man, responding with just a simple greeting.

“Sup, uncle?”

“Sup my ass.” He grumpily said. “Why is that boy in our house!?”

“Oh, you mean that thing?” Ryu pointed at Anito, who was still staring at the sun.

“He’s staying with us.” She answered, going down the stairs to cook their daily dose of rice.

“Staying here? Why would he be staying here?” The uncle asked.

“Dunno. Ask your other nephew.” Ryu said, having taken out a large cauldron from the kitchen rack.

“Oh, you mean he’s the—” The uncle squinted his eyes, looking at Anito from afar. “I… didn’t know.”

Having formulated an assumption from Anito’s presence, The uncle made his way to the other room, greeted by a sleeping Kali, enjoying the comfort of his spongy mattress. His body wasn’t keen on the mosquito bites, though, so the uncle took the fly swatter from the coffee table and started exterminating the insects. Kali’s eyes had started to unbar, and it took a couple of fragmented blinks for him to comprehend who entered the room.

“…Uncle?” Kali asked, yawning.

“Good morning, my dear nephew!” The uncle greeted.

“Uncle Obet!” Kali recognized. Both of them wore a sense of enthusiasm, and out of such enthusiasm begat a long overdue hug.

“Haha! Nice to see you again, Kali.” He told his nephew, smiling. “You’ve grown since the last time I saw you!”

Kali found it weird that his arms touched around his waist, so he pointed such an abnormality out to his uncle. “And you kinda lost a lot of weight, too!”

Obet, however, didn’t have a weight loss journey.

“You have a thwarted sense of obesity. I was just as heavy three years ago.” He spoke. “Enough of that. Is the boy downstairs the… friend… your father told me about?”

“Oh, right! Anito!” Kali made his way outside to see him, still staring into oblivion.

“Ahk! His eyes!” He realized, frantically running down the stairs to close them shut.

“Is he… alright?” Obet asked Kali.

“He’s a night owl. He… tried his best last night.”

Ryu, annoyed, barged into the conversation as she opened the stove. “Tried his best my face; he was roleplaying a revenge soap opera at 4 AM.”

Anito began sleep-talking. “I… stole… your husband…”

Everyone else in the household shrugged at those words, but at least Anito finally had some shut-eye in the living room.

The morning bore the scent of warm rice, but for Ryu, it was a similar drill as yesterday’s. Eggs, salt, pepper, seasoning, and half a cup of garlic on a bright, sunny morning. The two men didn’t like extra spice, so they settled with a hearty breakfast of pandesal and coffee.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

“Kali, tell me, how does it feel like to be valedictorian!?” Obet said, cheering him on with his cup of Barako.

“Nothing… I didn’t even get to do my speech.” Kali replied.

“Heh, you know you’re a clutch, right?” Ryu interrupted, treating herself to a bite of her eggplant torta. “I heard the government’s not gonna award valedictorians next year.”

Obet took a lighthearted take at her jab. “Then he’ll have the title of the last valedictorian of Santa Cruz Central. Doesn’t it sound nice?”

“Nice title, Bad backstory,” Kali answered. “I had to leave so abruptly that my friends didn’t even know I was here already. What would Sterling think…”

“Hah! Unintentional betrayal. You’re stuck here with me now.” Ryu replied.

“Now that’s a fate worse than getting introduced to drugs.” Kali thought.

The fun banter between the two cousins made Obet reminisce about things. He was unable to find a way to butt into the conversation, so he let out a little smile and sipped on his coffee. Now that he had nothing else to talk about, he quickly realized that something was off about Kali...

“Ahem, Kali, why are you wearing your cousin’s clothes?”

“Brave soul. Came out of the closet yesterday.” Ryu replied in Kali’s stead. That wasn’t the right answer, so Kali immediately whacked her head.

“We lost our fare money, so we pawned our baggage to the bus liner…” Kali corrected.

“It’s okay, I’ll pay it after my afternoon meeting today.”

Kali waved his humble hands at his uncle. “N~ No need, uncle! We’ll pay with our own money—”

The child froze as he involuntarily traced back his steps.

“Our can of coins are in the barangay hall…”

Brain fart. He was quick to slam his head on the table in jeopardy.

“You don’t need to pay anything, nephew. It’s my obligation. Besides, I’m the new Barrio Captain. I’ll try to use my power to save us the trouble.”

“A smart kid, an orphaned girl, and a corrupt uncle. Great.” Ryu bantered.

“Don’t worry.” The uncle smiled at his nephews. “We’ll get away with it.”

They did not get away with it.

It had been ten hours since breakfast, and there had been nothing special to talk about. It was the usual Monday for most Maharlikans, and the sixth of April was no different. Obet held barrio assemblies, merchants sold street food, and Ryu cooked up Chicken Adobo to last the day for the new arrivals.

The humblest captain in town failed to make a stern face in his negotiations with the bus liner. After a little more exchange in conversation and a little baggage checking, Kali and Obet walked out of the terminal 500 nits closer to bankruptcy.

“Looks like I had to use 500 nits after all…” Obet smiled at Kali. “At least you and Anito got your stuff back. You should be careful next time; The laptop your dad bought you is very expensive, you know.”

“Sorry… To lose large sums of money~ twice, I must be Bathala’s godforsaken child.” Kali giggled.

“Don’t think that,” Obet replied. “Even if Mother Nature herself puts you in all sorts of problems, it happens because she has a reason.”

Aware of the Maharlikan mindset when it comes to bad endings, Kali still embraced their fantasy, much to show respect for a belief he otherwise calls bullshit.

“Okay… Do you think she knows why my family fell apart?”

“Maybe Bathala knows, I was just personifying Mother Nature there… He better have a good reason, though.” Obet said. The two kept marching on back home, preferring slippers over tricycles. They already went over the budget, so it won’t hurt to walk a mile and a half on foot.

The two other kids who stayed home killed time. The ghoul on the couch didn’t even notice it; he was just asleep. The judges on TV reeked of a bad reputation, judging a sport that reeked of a bad reputation: Boxing. Ryu was quite invested, but she was pissed at the lackluster scores given to Team Red in the past two rounds.

“Cooking show. No wonder why the Boxing Feds got kicked out of the Olympics.” She said, having opened a pack of chicharron. Her first bite was nothing but a loud crunch, but it was a crunch that Anito could subconsciously recognize. After almost ten hours of sleep, his first course of action was clear. He opened his eyes—and ears, to the sound of junk food.

“Are you eating… chicharron?” Anito asked Ryu politely.

“Yeah. Wait, don’t tell me that’s why you woke up—” She replied as the roaring sounds of victory for Team Blue started airing, her attention returned abruptly to what she was watching, all the while slamming the air around her. “F#&*!”

Her Alemanian-like rage went on as Anito inquired her about her snack. “Can I have some~”

“NO!” Ryu screamed out loud.

“Oh, okay… Can I see what food you guys have if that’s alright?” Anito questioned.

“SURE! IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE FOOD, GO CHECK THE FRIDGE OUT! I’m going to my room.” Ryu answered, walking out of the living room and into the second floor.

“Stupid referee, stupid judges.” She murmured about. Now that her schedule was free, and her brain was out of focus, Ryu finally remembered what she was supposed to do today. “Oh, right. I should’ve done that while he was asleep.”

From above, she overheard Anito’s train of thought; that of which was about a meal he failed to consume yesterday. “Ooh, the fridge has liver spread!”

Ryu was well aware of a ghoul’s symbiotic relationship with liver. Looks like she doesn’t need to see an upside-down reflection from him; just a little paranormal naivety is necessary. However, she was still keen on thinking otherwise.

“…Maybe he’s gonna cook menudo?” Ryu thought to herself, but as she did, she witnessed Anito ravaging the can raw and without rice. A rice-free meal is an abomination in Ryu’s eyes, so she quietly, albeit ragefully, looked at Anito in disgust.

“Alright, Bathala, you win. Let’s kill this guy.” She casually conversed with her faith as she went down the stairs.

“Hey, Anito. When are you gonna kill my cousin?” Ryu asked Anito, who was licking the insides of the can.

Anito was understandably confused by her question. “Uh… no?”

“I’m not asking ‘will’, I’m asking ‘when.” She replied, ominously twisting her fists.

“Uh… never? Why are you asking me that--” Anito answered, having thought of the reason. His mouth was covered in liver, and the can he had opened was basted in his saliva. He looked at himself and realized what he had done. “Oh. Looks like I gave it away then…”

Anito innocently scratched his head and let a grin out. In such a brief moment of mistake, his innocence took over, and there was a resounding absence of fear. However, it was short-lived, and the horrors of his blunder started flooding into his mind. It was a shock so volatile that he had missed the opportunity to dodge Ryu’s landing fist. With a gut-wrenching impact, he slams right onto the oven.

As Anito gradually cleared his mind, he saw two fists about rain upon his face. He noticed that there was no mercy present in Ryu’s eyes, and in that split second, he fully understood why.

That’s the face of a woman who won’t let another loved one die.