“Ned,” Min said.
Ned looked up from his workbook. “Hmm?”
“I finished writing the infinite scroll.”
“Ah.” Ned adjusted his glasses, glancing at the cams on his screen. Iona wasn’t present in her cam.
I pray for her parents for the water bills she’s making…
He turned to Maine’s cam, which was nearly black, but her snoring could be heard, faintly enough not to tick him off.
“Is that all you’re gonna say?” Min asked, snapping him out of his thoughts and drawing him to her cam. Her screen was still shared as she clicked through many tabs, smacking her pencil against her chin and grinning straight at the camera. “I need these tabs.”
Ned looked at her cam and sunk his head back into his work, ruffling his hair again. “I saw, like, 6 Trill tabs open and 5 Gram ones open—”
“What? One for each”—Min whispered—”account.”
Ned raised a brow. “Sounds like extra stress—uh, I got 34.9 degrees for 8.”
“Same.”
“Good.”
There was a pause as they each focused on their own things.
“I need these—ah, look, look,” Min said, clicking away to get Ned’s attention.
Ned looked at the shared screen, displaying a one-page document with four lengthy bullet points. The document was titled ‘Infinite Scroll’.
“You actually did it?” Ned asked.
“Yep.”
“I was just joking.”
Min circled her mouse around the first point. “Scrolls are part of the CNM, right? So—”
“Yes—”
“—it should be fine.”
“Alright, you’ve gone and hooked me.” Ned slid a pen into his page and closed it slightly. “How did you turn something like the ‘infinite scrolling’ model into ninjutsu concepts?”
Min laughed. “I’m actually a genius.”
“Read it out for me.” Ned looked up to his ceiling, grabbing his Rubik’s cube and playing with it.
Min cleared her throat. “Hitsuke. The fire technique.”
“Good pronunciation,” Ned murmured.
“Involves”—she giggled—”starting flame wars on Trill on a…” She shook with laughter, Ned snickering as he facepalmed. “Starting random flame wars on Trill with a burner account.”
“That is already”—he snickered—”that’s already your best one—”
“True—”
“Haven’t known you for that long, but you’d definitely do something like this.”
“I wouldn’t say start them…” Min smirked at the camera, leaning on her hand. “I’d join them if I have the energy.”
“Alright.” Ned calmed himself down, both of them laughing silently as Maine snorted in her deep sleep. He lowered his voice. “Alright… The wood one next?”
“Tanuki-gakure—”
“Nice, nice—”
“The wood technique.” Min tilted her head. “This one’s the simplest—spying on other accounts.”
“Hmm, it is very simple.” Ned laughed. “Hard to incorporate the wood aspect there—”
“Yeah, we can come back to it and edit it—”
“You spy on others’ accounts?” Ned asked, furrowing his brows.
“Look—sometimes, you gotta nothing to do—”
“Find better hobbies.”
“I literally do—when I’m not doing my hobbies though or before bed or when I wake up too early—”
“Just continue,” Ned said, laughing into his palms.
“Ok, ok.” Min shook again. “Uki… Ukigusa-gakure—”
“Nice—”
“This is the water technique.” Min grinned. “It’s just—it’s just me going incognito and I turn on SurfDuckVPN.”
The two laughed harder, trying their best to quieten their voices.
“The hell? What’s your search history like?”
“Ned”—Min gave him an offended yet playful look—”never ask a girl what she searches up—ever—”
“I’m not gonna put you on a watchlist,” Ned said, pushing his glasses up as he solved the Rubik’s cube.
“You might—”
“And when was that a ru—how ab-freaking-horrent is it?”
Min cleared her throat. “I’m not telling a ninja—next—”
“You’re literally one too—wow, dodging it,” Ned scoffed.
“Only partly,” Min said. “Last one.”
“Hmm. Go on.”
“Uzura-gakure—”
“4/4 pronunciation—”
“The earth technique—thank you,” Min said, smiling sweetly at the camera. “Uh, so—hmm, this one involves me curling up on a ball on my bed as I—”
“Second-best one—”
“—rot my brain with lots of Gram reels.” Min giggled, swiveling to the side as she tried to cover it.
Ned laughed. “Second-best one—and it’s a defensive one that builds your tough skin and ability to endure such rot—”
“Ooh, exactly,” Min said, swivelling back to her laptop and typing his words into the document.
“Your posture is trash, to be honest,” Ned said.
“Sleeping in a ball is the best way to sleep,” Min said.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Ned shook his head, shuffling his Rubik’s cube again. “I sleep on my side because it gives—”
They froze at the sounds of a door shutting and footsteps coming from Maine’s side.
“Oh dear,” a soft voice came from Maine’s side as the cam’s darkness disappeared to reveal Maine’s asleep body strewn on the couch. The phone turned to meet an older face of a woman. “Oh. Hello?”
“Good eveni—morning, Mrs. Courtney!” Min greeted with a bright wave.
“Oh, Min! How are you, sweetie?”
“Doing well. You?”
“Why are you girls up so late—I’m doing fine, thank you! Just came back from work.”
“Uh, we were studying.”
“I don’t see a single book in my daughter’s hands—this girl of mine.” Mrs. Courtney panned the camera around, where she had thrown blankets over both Maine and Jacque, adjusting them to cover them completely. “I need to call Jacque’s parents to tell him he’s safe and here as well…”
“Do you just have blankets always prepared?” Min asked.
“You don’t understand how many times I come home to this,” Mrs. Courtney said, laughing as she turned off the TV. “But, Min, sweetie, do get some sleep—”
“I will—”
“Your, uh, responsibility is becoming irresponsible,” Mrs. Courtney joked.
Min laughed. “Maths is becoming hard, Miss.”
“I know, I know. Just take care of yourself—hmm, who’s the other person on the call?”
Ned shot up from his slouch, coughing. “Uh—I’m, uh—Ned, I’m a friend of Min—”
“Oh, well it’s nice to meet you, Ned!” The woman smiled and waved. “You get some sleep as well—tell Iona I said hello if she does come back. I need to hang up and sleep myself—very tired.”
“Good night, Miss!” Min said.
“Good night,” Ned said, much quieter.
“Take care.”
Maine’s facecam disappeared as her mum hung up.
They fell into silence, trying to figure out where they left off.
“Maine’s mum is hot as hell, right?”
“Why would you say that—why is that your convo starter?” Ned asked, falling into his palms again.
“What? Am I wrong?”
Ned blinked, smiling at the question before returning to neutrality. “Look—she’s very kind.”
“True, true.”
Ned thought for a second, absorbing that Maine was off the call. “Dunno how Maine can have such a mum.”
“Hmm?” Min leaned in. “What?”
“No, no, it’s fine, I”—he adjusted his glasses—”I said something I shouldn’t.”
“It’s fine, say what’s on your mind,” Min said. “She’s not here—what, you scared of her teasing you?”
“You three spent almost an hour mocking me…” Ned snarled. “Screw you—”
“You walked into it.” Min laughed.
Ned scratched his hair and sighed. “Maybe, maybe…”
Min frowned. “So? What’s up?”
“Well…” Ned opened his book again, closing it to pursue his Rubik’s cube again. He tried to keep his voice low in the event that Iona returned. “I’ll be honest. I don’t really li… Well, I wouldn’t say—hmm, right—I don’t really… vibe with or like… uh, Maine all that much—sorry.”
Min nodded slowly. “Ah, ok, ok.”
“She can joke around, sure… but then she, like… borders on plain rudeness—touches it even.” Ned shuffled through his cube, his eyes darting for all possibilities. “I only met her today, and honestly—quite… quite honestly it isn’t a good first impression.”
“Hmm…”
“Hey, she may not, uh, rock with me—that’s fine—used to all that—completely fine.” Ned paused as he completed his cube. “But when she can’t seem—you know Imo, yeah?”
“Hmm, yeah.”
“Yeah… That’s one of my best friends honestly—Maine just likes to complain and act all… I dunno—high? Even when people give her the—what—give her the time of day with kindness—nuh uh, just doesn’t work with me at all.” He placed his cube down and went back to solving problems, scratching his head with the eraser side of his pencil. “I don’t wanna say spoilt… Her mum generally seems like a good person. Maybe she—hmm…”
He paused and continued to work through the questions. He glanced up to see Min staring at the camera in deep thought.
“Hmm…” she hummed
“Sorry for bringing down the mood—it’s just been on my mind—”
“You don’t need to apologize.” Min straightened. “I can see where you’re coming from.”
“Hmm…”
“She can be a bit… much at times I can admit that.” Min wrote stuff in her book as well. “She can be nice, too.”
“Not to people she probably sees as not friends—I thought we learn human decency in first grade, not in final college year.” He sighed. “I just haven’t seen it much yet—I could just be speaking outta my butt because I’ve only known her for a couple of hours or something.”
Min nodded slowly. “I’m sorry you feel this way—look, I’m sure she’ll turn around eventually—but to be honest, you guys don’t gotta be friends if you don’t want to. I know that’s natural.”
“Hmm, yeah…” Ned flipped through his workbook. “Don’t apologize as well. You’re nice…” He smirked. “I think.”
Min hid her grin with a frown. “You think?”
“Mind you that you were just hiding your search history from me—”
“You are still on this?” Min laughed. “Hop off—just hop off it—”
“Never—and what you’re doing with so many alts? Nah”—Ned shook his head with a smile”—that’s crazy.”
“Not that crazy,” Min said, flipping through her countless tabs again. “Different alts for different feeds and interests. Chōhō, no?”
“Are your friends aware of this nonsense?” Ned asked.
Min thought about it, tapping her pencil against her chin again. “Nope…”
‘What?”
“Well, only some of it… but you think ninjas should be telling non-ninjas?”
Ned snorted. “You’re too freakin’ hardcore for a CNM newbie.”
“And I wanna keep learning more,” Min said, a curious look in her eye.
Ned turned away from her cam and smiled, scratching his hair. “I see.”
“Man…” Min leaned back in her seat. “This is too much math—how is Iona still not back?”
“Seriously,” Ned said.
Min shut her workbook. “What do you wanna talk about?”
Ned furrowed his brows. “Go to sleep. This has gone on too long.”
“I’m not tired.”
“Well I am. Fix your sleep schedule.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.” Min slouched more, frowning. “So you’re going?”
“Yep. Exhausted.”
“Alright, good night then—”
“Night—”
“—and don’t be a stranger, ok?”
Ned looked at her concerned expression and nodded. “Yeah—uh, of course.”
She waved. “See you tomorrow?”
“Of course.” He waved back.
He hung up.
I lied. Maybe I ain’t that tired.
He leaned back in his seat, clueless to the large smile plastered on his face.
But I really shouldn’t be smiling…
His smile grew.
I have an actual battle tomorrow.
I’m being serious.
Ned sighed as the small crowd in the gym cheered around them. “Go on.”
“I’m Krul!” The toned man in a vest shouted in front of him. “I’m gonna be fighting Ned once again and see if he can hit”—he slapped the red disc on his chest—”this target here for one band!”
The cheers and claps surged as Ned spun around his bō staff and huffed.
I tell myself this every time… But this wouldn’t have started if I hadn’t let myself be too open with those jocks.
“He claims to be a ninja and I may recognize that if he wins this!” Krul shouted.
One thing led to another… and now I’m part of an unofficial after-school fighting club in the school gym with barely any supervision for some reason…
He could’ve sworn he saw money being passed amongst the crowd.
And I’m encouraging gambling while I’m at it… Amazing…
“And yes, he gets to use a stick!” Krul strapped on his grappling gloves. “It’s MMA!”
Again, that’s not how MMA works…
“Are you ready, Ned?” Krul punched his fists together.
“Of course!”
Nah. I hate fighting buff dudes. But to be honest, I won’t lie and say that I’m not having a bit of fun… It’s two things really…
“Alright! Referee!” Krul called.
A random student with a tie strapped around his head hopped frantically in between them. “I want a fair fight!”
Nah. We’re far from that, and I’ve gone further. I’m a CNM ninja, I gotta promote it more obviously…
The referee stammered, unable to form another coherent sentence. “Fight!” He dashed away as Krul approached Ned, his grin ferocious and veins pumping.
So promoting it is one thing keepin’ me fightin’... The other…
Ned charged at Krul, his staff rocketing forward with a raging swing.
I want money!