“Coo, coo.”
Under the setting sun, on a park bench surrounded by vibrant green fields of grass, there were a few pigeons warily pecking at the bread tossed to them by a young man. The man was very coarse in his movements, rubbing the fine bread between his hands until it broke apart into chunks small enough for the pigeons to eat whole. There was boredom and indifference in his actions, shown clearly by his deep black eyes staring at, yet at the same time through, the pigeons.
“Haaa…”
A low sigh was released into the surroundings, sounding almost practiced, as if it had been repeated an uncountable number of times. A question, in a voice filled with apparent frustration, came with it.
“What is meaning in life? Until when do I have to wait until, for my life to become truly worth living?”
A viewer would almost speculate that this question was aimed towards the pigeons, if not for the man’s black pupils that had never properly looked at them even once. This was a question the man had asked himself many times over the course of his entire life, a question that he believed he needed to hear, despite being sick of the words that came with it.
The man’s movements hastened as his frustration grew. He began tearing the slice of bread into chunks larger and larger, until the pigeons could only peck them apart with great effort. In the end, the man was able to control his anger, and he tossed the rest of the bread at the pigeons indifferently, leaning back into the park bench, forcing himself to calm down.
“Hey, Mican!”
The voice of a young man rang out a little way away from the park, frightening the already wary pigeons into flight, the loud flapping of their wings and sharp coos startling Mican awake from his thoughts. Annoyed, he turned his head to look at the source of the voice.
“It’s about time we headed back to our place Mican, are you done feeding the pigeons? You know, the reason they’re so big is that you keep spoiling them like that. Personally, I think seeds would be a better option when it comes to pigeons from the city, low in carbs and you don’t have to work to tear them apart, like you do with bread.”
Mican nearly sighed again as he inspected the intruder of his peace. An unreasonably handsome young man in his late teens, standing at about 5’9. He was dressed in a knitted jumper and a pair of jogging pants. The young man’s clear lack of style was overtaken by his good looks and unusual orange hair, overall outstanding in appearance.
“In particular, I would recommend sunflower seeds. The ones without shells mind you, otherwise that would ruin the purpose. Personally, I prefer the great brand of Othello, they lightly salt theirs and package them with extra as compared to other no-name brands. In fact, I would go so far as to say…”
“Alright, Gerald. I get it, let’s just head back. Preferably in silence.”
“Oh alright, I’m sorry about that. I should really stop this habit of prattling on sometimes. In fact, earlier today when I was holding the cash register, Miss Stephanie had mentioned...”
Mican felt a headache coming on as he stood up and began crossing the large park field in short strides, back to their shared house, with Gerald in tow. This routine had been repeated for several years now, Mican finishing work and heading to the local park to dwell in his thoughts, and Gerald inevitably barging in after he was done his own shift. How had Gerald found Mican in such an obscure location, Mican would never know. Why Gerald seemed to stick to him like glue, he would similarly never know.
After several minutes, the pair reached an intersection in a residential area and crossed to one of the houses closest to the street. The two checked the closed mailbox for any new letters and entered the house afterwards, as per their usual routine. The house was a two-story building with an attic and a basement. Upon entering the house, there was the common room on the right, a kitchen on the left, and two staircases in front, leading up to a hallway with the bedrooms and bathrooms, and down to the basement respectively. Mican’s room was on the right of the corridor at the far end, and Gerald’s was a door closer to the stairway.
Mican changed out of his shoes into a pair of slippers by the doorway and headed up to his personal bedroom to prepare to settle down for the day. He took a quick shower and threw out his garbage on the curb, actions he repeated on a daily basis, and went downstairs to prepare dinner for himself and his roommate. He turned the stove on, coated a pan lightly with oil, and began to fry some eggs and bacon.
Steps sounded out from the staircase and an orange-colored head popped out by the kitchen’s doorway.
“Hey Mican, I won’t be needing any dinner today, I’m gonna go and eat out with a couple friends.”
“Alright, have fun then. I’ll make some in case you’re still hungry when you come back and wrap it up in the fridge. I’ll have it for lunch tomorrow if you don’t want it.”
Mican shot a quick glance at Gerald by the doorway and shrugged indifferently.
The teenager shuffled his feet out from the doorway, into the kitchen. He had not changed his clothing, and it seemed as if he was ready to head outside once again. He was fiddling with his fingers, with a look on his face that made it apparent that he was deliberating something.
“Mican, I know you don’t like these sorts of things, but would you consider coming to a get-together I’m assembling with the other guys in my college?”
The orange-haired boy decided after half a minute of deliberation and pushed the question forward with hope apparent on his face.
“I’ll just be bored, I don’t like those sorts of activities, and I have better things to do with my time, like watching anime.”
Gerald loosened his arms to his side and gave a look of disappointment towards his friend, a slight frown hanging on his face.
“Don’t look at me like that, I’m not going to change my mind. With you it’s alright, Gerald, but nobody else. There’s nothing there for me in interacting with the sort of people you hang out with.”
The young man shuffled his feet together while his friend continued cooking, attempting to think up a good response to convince his stubborn roommate. After around half a minute, his face lit up.
“Oh, I know! If you don’t come now, you’ll be missing out. There’ll be girls~”
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The young man gave a mischievous look towards his friend, seemingly planning something.
“I’m sure they’ll fall for your charms once they get to know you, I know that for a fact.”
“Charms? I’m sure they’ll be too busy falling over themselves to get to you to even consider anybody else in your group, Mister Love-mancer.” Mican looked at his roommate with an expression of ridicule, calling him by his dreaded nickname in high school.
“Alright, alright! I call uncle, geez…”
Gerald’s cheeks flamed red upon the teasing, evidently having given up on convincing his friend to join him. Disappointed, but still in a happy mood, the teenager swiftly strolled to the doorway and changed into his shoes.
“I’ll see you later Mican! Don’t worry, I won’t forget about you, I’ll buy you some takeout when I go to eat, and I’ll call you when I’m back.”
Gerald gave a quick wave and excitedly walked out the door, leaving only the sound of the door locking behind him.
“I really wonder how he manages to get so excited every single time.” Mican gave a short wave back and continued his task.
After an hour or so, he finished cooking. He finished his meal cleanly and left the dishes in the sink for his roommate to handle. He then headed up the stairs to prepare for the night.
One could hear the sound of crickets chirping, as the sun fully set, and the moon began to rise. In the bathroom, he turned on the tap and looked into the mirror in front of him to begin brushing his teeth, an action he had only rarely failed to complete in the same manner throughout his entire life. The cold water rushed through the tap and the muffled sound of gurgling sounded out as water rushed down the drain. He splashed the water onto his face, the ice-cold liquid shocking him fully awake. Intrusive thoughts rushed into his head, as he found was the norm when reflecting over his daily routine.
“What am I doing… every single day, this same old dog-trash routine of the same old dog-trash actions.”
The strength in his grip grew, along with his frustration, as he grabbed onto the sides of the sink and stared into the mirror, glaring at his own reflection. Beads of cold water fell from his face into the sink below, the rushing tap drowning out the sounds of the droplets, keeping him from getting too engrossed in his own thoughts. He knew it was useless to get angry when there was nothing he could do, but it was difficult controlling the frustration that nagged at him every single day.
A pair of black eyes on a face one could only consider to be average, stared back at Mican. The young man in the mirror appeared to be in his early twenties, his facial features were very well put together, and his skeletal structure was appealing which made him pleasant to look at, but still not able to be considered handsome. He was slightly above average in height, standing at 5’11, with short, silky black hair covering the top of his head. Mican appraised his body and felt slightly better. The lean and fairly muscular body was proof to him that not all of his years were wasted in vain.
“What sort of life is this, repeating these same actions I disdain, asking myself the same questions. It’s meaningless. Meaningless. This pathetic life can’t be considered living, but merely staying alive. So…. What is the use in it.”
Over the past few years, these sorts of existential thoughts had been growing stronger and stronger with each passing day. His eyes inevitably wandered to one of the two cups on the sink counter, and its contents. It was his personal cup meant for daily toiletries. it contained a toothbrush, floss, toothpaste, and a razor. His gaze lingered on the razor in particular. This was not his first time feeling such urges, he had been deeply contemplating this course of action throughout the past several years of his life.
It was not self-harm which he considered, but a swift end. He had nothing to live for in his life, the only thing that held him back was his disdain at such an action, considering it to be the cowardice of running away, and that Gerald would be devastated by his disappearance.
Mican knew he had a problem, these existential thoughts seemed stronger than most anyone else’s, but at the same time he deeply treasured these thoughts. Thinking about Gerald, Mican relaxed his grip and grabbed his toothbrush to finally finish his daily toiletries.
After finishing, Mican entered his room and sat down on the bed. The room was fairly large and filled with all sorts of mismatched items from different hobbies. In one corner there was a desk with a reading light, piled with notebooks and stationery. In another corner there was a treadmill that was surrounded by assorted dumbbells of differing weights. In the third corner of the room, an electric piano was placed down, a flute and violin in two separate cases beside it. The open closet opposite the doorway contained sports equipment of all kinds, and there were several gaming consoles near a TV in front of his storage-bed that was placed directly in the middle of the room.
Mican looked at the desk upon which the notebooks were, the reading lamp was still on and shining a bright white light on the papers. The latest addition in his journey to discover a hobby or profession that would fill his life with the meaning he longed for. He briefly considered sitting down and trying to write something, but ultimately didn’t. He was in a fairly bad mood today and didn’t feel like trying.
The young man reached his hand under his pillow and took out a thin, silver laptop, turning it on and letting load up.
“As I thought, anime is my only true escape.”
Thinking of the wonderful world of anime, Mican’s mood immediately improved.
Opening the video player on the laptop, he crossed his legs and made himself comfortable on the bed. He reached down and opened up the compartment beneath the bed, taking out a bag of chocolate chips, a tightly sealed box of cookies, and some orange-flavoured carbonated soda.
The young man clicked on a random file and patiently let it load, grinning and rubbing his hands together as if what he was about to consume was a five-star gourmet meal, and not a generic, trashy, isekai-anime.
Mican frowned as he held the soda can in his hand and felt the warmth of the beverage.
Placing the laptop aside, he stood up from the bed and headed down to the kitchen to grab a cup of ice. It was already night out, and he could faintly hear the chatter and laughter of the people outside his house doing their own daily routines, and the barking of dogs as they were being walked.
Pausing for a moment, he looked out the kitchen window. Surveying the neighbourhood view, a slight sigh unintentionally escaped from his mouth. Shaking his head to get rid of the intrusive thoughts, he turned back to the fridge. Grabbing a cup out of the cupboard, he filled it with ice from his ice-dispenser and headed back up the stairs to his room, the sounds of the outside world slowly fading away with each step.
Crossing through the hallway to the far end, something caught his eye. It was an unnatural glowing light, shining out from under the crack of one of the doors. It was neon green in color, seemingly becoming more and more vibrant as the seconds passed. Looking up at the door, Mican identified it as the door to Gerald’s bedroom. There seemed to be a slight, constant hum that came out from behind the door.
Did that kid come back already? He didn’t call me, and he always calls me. Maybe he was too busy? No, this isn’t like him.
As one of the few people Mican was familiar with, he was very sensitive to Gerald’s habits and actions, and this was not like his friend. Slightly worried, he rapped on the door to Gerald’s room and waited for a response.
“Gerald, are you there? What’s with the light? Are you cooking up some sort of prank?”
Mican knocked once again, but there was no response. The neon green light seemed shine brighter and brighter, until the light flooded the space beyond the door through the crack underneath. The slight hum seemed to accompany the light, as it too, grew a little bit louder.
Seeing this along with no response even after a second knock, Mican deemed the situation urgent enough to check it out, no longer having the luxury to consider his friend’s consent.
“I don’t know what’s going on Gerald, but if you’re in there, I’m coming in.”
Still holding the ice-filled cup, Mican decisively grasped the doorknob with his free hand and pulled inward, opening the door. The green light flooded through the doorway as the crack widened, it felt ominous and unnatural to Mican for some strange reason he couldn’t quite put his finger on, as if it simply didn’t belong. The light seemed almost invasive in nature, as it enveloped him, groping at the world beyond Gerald’s room. There seemed to be no noise in the world at that moment, not even the chirping of crickets, aside from the low humming sound which grew slightly in intensity as the door was opened.
Looking into the room, nothing was out of the ordinary, and everything was exactly how Gerald usually left it. Only that, there was a large, gaping green portal, directly in front of the entrance of the bedroom, emitting a near blinding light.