...
Hmmm?
Oh, is it that time already?
Well then, I suppose I better find my next lucky recipient.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The dim rays of light from the sun peer into your room as it begins to rise. You take notice of it as you mash the buttons on your controller, and you can tell your phone's alarm is about to sound.
Duuurururururururu! Duuuuurururururururu!
The mildly annoying sound it produces goes off right as you're playing the sanitary game that is 'Broom: Eternal', sequel to the prior game in the franchise, 'Broom'.
Broom is Eternal, but you've got bigger messes to clean right now.
You quickly shutdown your console right before reaching for your phone to turn off the alarm.
After giving it a tap with your slightly strained finger, you give your phone a quick glance.
On your very anime wallpaper of a beautiful waifu bride, it reads Monday, 6:00 AM on the dot. As it should be.
You don't usually stay up having fun until it's time to prepare for school on weekdays, but you'd give it some exceptions when your schoolwork wasn't too heavy on you. When you did stay up late, you'd usually take an early nap first and wake up at around 3 AM. On luckier days, you wouldn't sleep at all, save for an hour or two of accidentally dozing off.
Today was one of those days.
You prop yourself up and fix your room of the mess it has become from your late-night shenanigans. Giving it one last survey, you deem it decent enough, despite of all the noticeable imperfections, and head on to the bathroom.
Passing by the mirror, you stop to stare at the "beauty" that is donned on its reflective surface.
Just the kind of looks you'd expect from a typical nerd like you. Unkempt long black hair full of cowlicks that reach just a little beyond your shoulder blades, deep eye bags decorating the windows of your soul, topped off with your standard stoic and weary facial expression. Some would say your petite frame and considerably average height would also be drawbacks, but short is cute and it's just the right height for most boys to rest their chins on your head. Pretty niche, but you're sure it'll come in handy someday. The only redeeming physical quality you can come up with is your emerald eyes. Not exactly the most appealing of factors, but it does help you stand out often when you need to despite your introversion.
You blast your reflection in the mirror with your finger guns and a cheeky smile as you get ready for the tiring day ahead of you.
In a jiffy, you're done grooming yourself.
Bath: taken
Clothes: worn
Breakfast: eaten
Hair: ...
Despite taking a bath, your hair still looks like it could use some combing. But, you still think that the organized mess that it is with patches sticking out here and there give you adorable points.
Backpack in hand by the front door, you shut off the lights indoors and stride out the door. Since you live alone with your parents and siblings working overseas and/or in different cities, you pull out a key and lock the door to your house. Giving the handle a budge, you confirm that no one's getting in there.
You turn around and proceed to wait for your best friend and neighbor, Stacy Stacerino, to arrive. She's a high school dame in sneakers and she's been your friend for a few years now. Growing up you, aside from your increasing cynicism, you stayed pretty much the same, but she's certainly changed quite a bit. From the shy kid in class, she's turned into the social and lovable gal that's popular in every class.
Staking out the area, you notice she's not out yet. You put your hand in your pocket to bring out your phone and keep yourself busy while you wait, but something catches your eye right as you do.
The mailbox, its flag is raised. That's a little odd. You've never really received mail from there, but you're pretty sure that flag means that means that there's something inside.
You stride towards it and casually prop it open. There's not much inside it, not a package or mail at least. It seems to be...a scrap of paper?
You take it out and examine it. It reads, "Your time is now.".
It's even written in cursive. This is certainly beyond the norm for you, but it's probably nothing.
To avoid becoming a Scum of the Earth by littering, you stuff the note in your pocket. Perhaps it could serve as inspiration later on?
Just as you return to your activity of bumming around, a voice pipes up shouting from afar, "Christine! Good morning!"
Yup, that's you. Christine Bates.
Ah, there she is, enthusiastically waving at you. You give her a warm smile and a wave back as you start walking to meet her halfway.
Inching ever closer to her, you take notice of her choice of clothing. She appears to be wearing the usual. Baggy white knee socks, cute pink sweater loosely tied around her waist, unintentionally sultry short skirt, the works. A classic set of clothes for a gal such as herself. Not to mention how well it compliments her slightly-tan skin, long and tied back blonde hair and, moreover, her cute and quirky personality.
"Hey, Stacy. How you doin'?" you greet her.
"Staying up late again, weren't you?" she gives you a playful smirk.
"Weren't 'WE', you mean. And it's not staying up late if you don't go to bed." you throw her a repartee in return.
"Still doesn't stop you from getting those eyebags though.". A sad truth, but a truth nonetheless. You never really get too tired, but you suppose every other effect of lacking sleep still comes in order.
"You're always up like a nightcrawler almost as much as me, but I still don't get how you manage to stay looking pristine all the time."
"Hey now, there's nothing wrong with having eyebags. And if you ask me, I think they make you look cuter." she manages to barely stifle her embarrassment from giving you such an endearing compliment.
Your cheeks flush a tinge of pink from hearing her response. Evading the topic, you get the ball rolling as you start walking away without waiting for Stacy, "I-I think it's time we go to school."
Stacy quickly caught up with you as she walked backwards, matching your pace to maintain conversation, "Hmmm? Did I embewess wittle Chwistine?"
Your blush deepens to a crisp crimson red as you simply face away from her, not verbally acknowledging her response.
Stacy maintains her smug, wry smile and drops the topic by hopping you on the nose as she disappointedly says, "You're no fun."
You and Stacy soon find yourselves in your classroom. You swipe a glance at your watch only to find out that it's around 7:15 AM, around the usual time you arrive at school. It wasn't really far away from your house, and you prepare pretty fast in the mornings.
The classroom isn't empty, but there's only a handful of people residing within it aside from Stacy and yourself. Each one doing about their own business whether it be through their phones or friends.
Speaking of friends, here comes one right now just right before you separate with Stacy and camp out by your desk.
"Hey, girls. What's poppin'?"
It's Chad. Chad Chadwick, Stacy's first and fresh boyfriend. As his name states, he's an absolute All-caps C H A D with the spacing for emphasis. Though he doesn't have much extra accessories on him besides the basic articles of clothing, one noticeable thing about him is his height. Stacy is about a head taller than you, and he's about a head taller than Stacy. It's not that you're short, it's just that he's a big guy. You think of what you thought about earlier about the average male height resting their chins on your head, but you suppose Chad's height is just right since he's dating Stacy so he can perfectly rest his chin on her head should the occasion arise. That's really about all you can say about Chad physically, but overall, he's a pretty cool guy. Certainly down-to-earth and most definitely a hit on your social circle's standards. Knowing both of them as your good friends, you can say that they landed pretty lucky with each other.
"Nothing much, Chad. I was just about to go take a nap. Don't really wanna sleep during Basic Calculus again." you quip.
"Fair enough, Calculus isn't so basic after all." Chad jokes, which stifles a chuckle out of you and Stacy. Calculus isn't too difficult, but it's certainly not basic.
You give them both a wave goodbye as you turn and start making your way towards your table.
"Wait! Care to join us in our morning stroll?" Stacy asks you with a kind smile, tugging your sweater's right sleeve just right before you leave her range.
As you said, their relationship was still pretty fresh. Fresh enough to be raw. Nothing too lovey dovey yet, just more about getting to know each other more so they've been walking around school in the mornings lately until just before the bell rings. She doesn't seem like it, but Stacy sometimes gets flustered depending on the situation. You can tell by her light blush and mildly nervous expression that now is one of those times. You suppose that's why she's asking you to come along, but she's gotta learn to be more confident someday.
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"Thanks, but no thanks. I really gotta hit the hay. But I'll tell you what. I'll take you up on that offer as soon as I finish 'Broom: Eternal'."
"We both know you're still gonna replay it at least five times first, but you better go with us someday." she gives you a lighthearted smirk to which you respond with a smile.
"Someday." you repeat after clasping her shoulder with one hand. You give her a wave goodbye as she and Chad mimic your gesture. You see Stacy tightly hug Chad's arm right before they walk away from your field of view. She must really need some affection. Maybe you'll keep that in mind.
The thoughts of relationships and affection crowd your mind, mostly about how you're severely lacking in both. A slight pain wells up in your chest just thinking about it, but you're not quite sure why.
Shrugging it off, you try to ignore the uneasy feeling as you drop your bag, take a seat and rest your head on your forearm.
You begin to doze off, drowsiness overpowering every other feeling you have. Your vision starts to blur as your eyes start to shut.
You're filled with bliss as your body lets loose and relieves your muscles. Rest guides you now, soothing your tiresome body without interruptions.
That is, until a composed voice pipes up, "You don't look too hot this fine Monday morning. Are you tired?"
You feel a little irritated that your very narrow timeframe of sleeping is interrupted, but your slight rage quickly dissipates as you recognize that familiar voice.
"Still am. But what compels you to interfere with my scheduled napping hours, Mr. York." still in the same position, you shift your head a bit to face him from your seat.
It's Alexander York, or as he prefers to be called, Allec, your childhood best friend. The mere sight of him eases the pain you feel by your chest, though you don't take notice of that, too busy thinking about him. He's not too different from Chad physically, but he has a black buzz cut and he's just about as tall as Stacy.
"Please, call me Allec. That's what everyone calls me." he utters his shtick line that you hear every time he's introducing himself or someone doesn't call him by 'Allec'.
You simply humor him with a snicker.
"And to answer your question, I was simply concerned for your well-being. Last week was certainly daunting with the requirements, and I just wanted to make sure you're holding up okay. Though I do apologize for waking you up." he continues.
Classic Allec. You can never tell whether he's just doing a bit or he's actually serious. But, you guess that's why you like him and enjoy his company. The world could really use more people like Allec. Always keeping his eye on the prize but still not forgetting to have a little fun every now and then.
"Well, that was last week. This week is pretty much rest week. I'm just tired from abusing that rest playing video games all night." you explain, your tiredness creeping back into you as evidently shown by your groaning voice.
"'Broom: Eternal' I presume?" he deduces quite sharply.
"That's the spice."
Before either of you can continue this lovely conversation, a certain Emillia Watts enters the classroom. Allec stares at her for a second before turning back to you, "Oh. I gotta go, Christine. Good luck slaying all that pollution."
"Thanks, and I think I'll be using some of this week's time to rest now." you reply just before he leaves your range.
You're left to your own devices once more as you decide to rest again, but for every step that Allec took away from you, you came to realize that the pain in your chest has returned. Even more so when you see that Allec has gone and started conversation with Emillia. They seem to be having a good time too, and your chest seems to swell up even more just by looking at them. This wouldn't be the first time this happened. What's going on with you?
Unable to solve your predicament, you decide to continue sleeping it away. Shifting back to the same position, you attempt to slumber once more. However, with your mind still active from your abrupt conversation with Allec, your thoughts linger back to those two, more specifically Emillia.
She's the Student Council President of your high school, typical of an all-star girl such as herself. Football athlete, academic prodigy, violin player, the works. Even her beauty is stunning. Her standard look is already angelic without the fashion, makeup or accessories. You don't dislike her, but often you do feel a little envy, and most definitely insecurity.
Your confidence starts to crumble just by thinking about it again, so you numb out the feeling and let your exhaustion take over.
The day goes by as it usually does. Nothing too hectic considering a difficult week just passed, but still tedious nonetheless. Thankfully, you managed to stay awake the whole day. Your gratefulness increases as the school bell rings at 4 PM, signaling that the school day is finally over.
With a little packing, you wave your friends goodbye. You exit the classroom and proceed to wait outside for Stacy, who's saying her farewells to Chad.
Your thoughts of the remainder of the day's activities are disrupted by the presence of a very friendly teacher, Evelyn Rose.
"Why...? Why'd you leave me?" she melancholically asks you.
"We already talked about this, Rose. It's...it's better that things stay the way they are..."
"But the way things are isn't better for me!" she fiercely shouts, but only enough for the two of you to hear.
"I...I know it doesn't feel like it... but please, just have a little faith. It'll get better...soon enough."
Stacy comes out of the classroom and analyzes the current situation after seeing you and Ms. Rose, "Darling, is she bothering you again?" Stacy comes close to you and wraps her arms around your hand.
"I-is this the girl that you replaced me with? I... I..."
Evelyn tries to speak in confusion and grief clutching her chest until you cut her off, "It... it hurts for me too, Rose, but just wait and hope. Let's go, Stacy."
You start to walk away from Ms. Rose as does Stacy, who gives Ms. Rose a look of disdain before facing the same direction as you.
Suddenly, Ms. Rose stops you by holding you back with a hand on your shoulder, "End scene. Lovely act, Christine." she compliments you with a satisfied smile on her face.
The three of you have a giggle fit laughing at the role play you all had just acted.
Role play, a golden hobby you and your good friends partake in. You're not very fond of theatrical acting, but role play is undeniably fun with friends. It's especially fun when it comes out of nowhere, just like how Ms. Rose did just now. You were especially pleased to find out that Ms. Rose dabbled with it as well.
Ms. Rose returns to her usual demeanor, emanating a very motherly aura despite being young and single. She's just a little taller than Stacy and she has a brown flowy ponytail down by her front shoulder all the way down to her chest. Anytime you see her, she always keeps up a warm smile with her eyes closed. She doesn't speak slow, but it's noticeable how sometimes she drawls on some syllables when she's speaking.
Just like her aura, she also acts very motherly and kind. She's your moderating/science teacher, actually, and you bet she let you sleep in during homeroom considering that you woke up in the first period already. She's not strict, but she can get pretty intimidating when she gets serious. You've only seen her like that twice before, and you're pretty thankful it has only been twice.
"Well, it's best I don't keep you two waiting," she turns to you with an endearing smile, "I just wanted to tell you to finish 'Broom: Eternal' as sooooon as you can so you don't sleep in during homeroom. It's great that you don't sleep during classes, buuuut I don't see you ladies much at all. So please, stay awake for meeee."
Everyone's been on your back about "Broom: Eternal" today, but you suppose you are notorious for that kind of thing, especially that the game came out just last weekend.
But now you feel a little bad. Ms. Rose is one of your great friends after all. It's a classic of her to be friends with everyone, even her students. You suppose there really isn't too much time for you and her to be with each other, and you should probably make the most out of it. Now that you think about it, you barely talked with her last week because of all the work you had. And that's probably why she's telling you this. It's no biggie, really, but you feel compelled now to stay awake during homeroom. Your schedule will stay as is, but you'll find another way to keep your eyes peeled in the daylights.
"You got it, boss. Bye Ms. Rose." you bid her farewell, as does Stacy.
You notice her turn around for a second only to see your Home Economics teacher, Jonathan Peterson Lae. He's infamous for being...a drunkard, pretty much 24/7. Though he's menacing, he does seem to be a nice guy all the time. You suppose the school still keeps him around since, undeniably, he's a master at his craft. On to his appearance, he wears a set of small round glasses. His lightly-gray hair is also spiked up, a hairstyle that definitely suits him.
Ms. Rose, upon seeing him pass by, hastily bid you goodbye as she left, "Bye, girls. Take care now."
You and Stacy give her a nod as you both started to head home.
"Hey, Stacy?"
"Yeah?"
"Next time, please wake me up in the morning before the bell rings."
"Sure, Christine."
You just parted ways with Stacy as you watched her enter her household. You walk up your own porch and give your phone a check. It's currently 4:30 PM. You should be having dinner soon, and you wonder what you shall have. Your pondering turns to curiosity as you notice that your mailbox's flag is raised again. Second time today? Now that's really out of the ordinary. The thoughts of dinner came unbidden but your selections are narrowed down as you open the mailbox. Inside is a pamphlet advertisement of the local Japanese restaurant, "Shokumotsu".
That's Mr. Kogeki's restaurant. He's also another one of your friends. Though he's quite a bit older than you and he's not within your usually visited environments, you vibe with him quite well. After all, you do frequent his restaurant. Those egg rolls sure are something, and you're craving for some right now.
It's a little sketchy, but if someone put that ad in the mailbox, it's probably him. Maybe he wants to talk to you about something? You'll find out in a bit.
After dropping off some of your stuff, you change into your casual clothes. You put on some shorts that cut off just after your kneecaps, your comfiest shirt, a thin jacket and an ivy cap to top it all off.
You venture outside, making sure to lock the door after making sure you have all you need for this short journey.
In just a little while, you've arrived at the exquisite restaurant just in the neighborhood, "Shokumotsu".
As you're walking towards it, you see that there's not too much people dining in it. You'd call it a slow day, but, it's not exactly dinner time yet.
Entering the establishment, Mr. Kogeki notices your arrival. You look to see that he's clothed in the standard all-black employee's outfit as he mans the counter. The only thing that differentiates him from his employees is his rectangular glasses. You swear that sometimes his lenses glares when he adjusts his glasses.
"Good evening, Hiniku-san." you greet him as you approach the counter.
"No."
Oh, right. Mr. Kogeki can be a bit...rude, at times, often even surreal. But, it's all in good irony. That's a part of why you two get along so much.
"Hmph, alright then. I'll have the usual." you pout as you give your order.
"Egg rolls with Yakimeshi fried rice huh? Come with me." he starts to move towards the kitchen giving you a wave to follow. For a Japanese guy, his English was outstandingly fluent.
He always did ask you to be with him when he made your orders. Then again, he didn't have too many friends to be with, partly because of how others couldn't make the cut like you did. Not that you mind though. In the little time you can spend with him, often it's very enjoyable, and sometimes they even turn a bad day into an acceptable one.
Once inside the kitchen, he gives one of his employees a nod, a signal which prompts her to run the counter.
He starts up his grill while taking some cooking apparatus out of drawers. "So, do tell me what a teenager such as yourself has been up to lately?" he queries as the grill revs up.
"Nothing much, just plain ol' video games until early dawn." you truthfully tell him.
"Yeah? Is that for all teenagers or just the outcasted NEETs* of society?" he chuckles as he cooks the eggs finely, observing his cooking with focus while talking to you.
*NEET = No Education/Employment/Training
"No, just the lonely friendless creeps like you." you return with a wry smile.
He chuckles at your comeback just as he finishes cooking your egg rolls. A quick dish, but a savory one. He then moves on to getting your fried rice ready.
"So what's with the neighborhood advertising?" you shift the topic.
"Hmmm? Whatever do you mean, Christine?" he asks, genuinely curious.
You hand him the pamphlet from the mailbox that you stored in your pocket, "I found this in my mailbox about half an hour ago. That's where I got the idea to buy egg rolls from you for tonight."
He gives it an observant look after grabbing it until he hands it back to you and continues working on your dinner, "That's definitely ours, but I can't how or even why that got all the way to your mailbox. Why?"
You stuff the pamphlet back in your pocket, "Nothing, just curious." but your curiosity has slightly shifted to concern. Concern that something might be going on, but you're not quite sure yet what it is.
"So, got a boyfriend yet? I'm asking so I can laugh when you say no because you probably won't get one." he shoots you a condescending smile.
Love was never really up either of your alleys, so the insults were all fair game on that field.
"Key word, probably." you reply.
"Key word, laugh." he says just as he does.
You simply stare at him with a blank expression before continuing, "That's pretty creepy coming from you, Hiniku-san."
"Creepy? From a man in his early 30's? Yes. Talking to you? No." he explains, which you deem fair enough.
"Still quite the question to ask considering you yourself are stil single." you argue.
"Perhaps it is because I choose to be single...nah, you're right. Someday though... someday... but you still haven't answered my question."
"Fine, no, I have no boyfriend. You can laugh now." you answer him with a failing attempt to tone down your fiercesomeness. You don't understand why you're pretty aggressive with the topic. You're not usually so passionate about love.
Rather than frolicking in laughter, Mr. Kogeki's face turns to one of grimace, "Well, when you put it that way, it's not exactly very humorous. Especially that I didn't hear a 'yet' in there."
The fried rice has achieved its enticing brownish hue and aromatic smell as Mr. Kogeki leaves the grill for it to finish cooking up the rice. Meanwhile, you ponder on the future of your relationship status. You never really thought about it much before but... why do you feel like you need love now? It's a weird topic for you, too foreign, so you decide to drop it for now by giving him a neutral answer, "I... I don't know yet."
"Ah, changing I see. Then again, you are in your hormonal teen stages. Perhaps love is churning in that heart of yours after all." he begins to finish up making your dinner and has started to put them in the restaurant's packaging.
You cringe a little at his statement. The mere thought sends you to wonder and wince.
"I'll tell you what I do know. It's time to pony up." he places your packaged dinner right beside you as he asks for your payment.
You're a little glad that that conversation was over, but also a little disappointed that your short time with Mr. Kogeki is now over. You hand him your payment in cash as he hands you your order in your hands.
It's a moderately big bag, you'd say. That is, considering that your usual order is two medium servings of both fried rice and egg rolls.
You always order two mostly because of how good it tastes, but also partly because it's pretty cheap for that big of a serving. Most times, you just eat half for dinner and keep some left as snacks during your early hours of fooling around. Chinese food always did pair well with the first few hours of new day.
Pleased with the acquisition of your feast, you bid Kogeki-san goodbye as you leave his establishment.
"Come back anytime." he says just before you leave through the door.
It's around 5:30 PM and the sun's blinding rays have started to dim down to a sunset as you reach your house.
You reach your porch and the first thing you notice is that the mailbox's flag is raised again.
Third time? Something's definitely up.
You flip it open to find a proper letter this time. It reads, "Back so soon? Glad you got back here while the sun's still up."
Your concern greatly fluctuates after reading the note. Is someone stalking you?
Hastily, you key open the door and bolt in. Right before you completely close the door, you hear the sound of metal shifting around, like a gate opening. But you don't have a gate, and logically, that sounded like the mailbox's flag being raised up. You drop your dinner by a table next to the front door and cautiously swing open the ajar door. Slowly, your field of view sees an empty front yard, with the only change being the raised flag.
You carefully move outside, reconning the area in case something, or someone, pops up out of nowhere.
You flip open the mailbox and take what's inside before keeping watch of the front yard again. The sun has barely set already, and darkness consumes he neighborhood.
You give the letter a quick read as it says, "Leaving so soon? And in such a hurry as well. Good grief."
You freeze up upon reading this, a static chill running down your spine. Before you could even process and react to the situation, the flag raises once more. Except this time, you saw it move by itself. You don't jump from it, but its eeriness has you paralyzed where you stand.
Slowly, you muster up the courage to approach it bit by bit. Opening it up, you find yet another letter. You reach for the letter as your hands start to jitter from the tension of the paranormal situation.
"Won't you at least chat with me?" the letter reads.
You quickly look around you, still seeing nothing but an empty vicinity. You keep peering around until the mailbox rustles for a second. You inch closer to it, examining it in all its entirety.
Could this mailbox be...?
You step in closer and closer, and just as you're about to touch it, it makes a deep, ungodly wail like a banshee.
This sent you flying backwards and landing your rump on the porch flooring. You'd run away like a bat out of hell, but suddenly from cautiousness to fear, your fear turned to confusion as the mailbox starts having a kick out of his scare, laughing away like any normal human would. Except... it's not human.
"A-are...are you alive?"