"Dear Fujihanas, my friends and I-"
"Friends? That's fast."
"-would like to seek your assistance-"
"Nope."
"-seek an audience to talk about an old curse that had been cast by Chikara Fujihana some hundred years ago.
"Cheers, Richard König."
"No."
"Well, what do you want me to write?" Richard demanded as Alina sat in front of him on the floor, chin rested on her palm, looking bored. Linda was lounging on another sofa, cutting up some pieces of leather. Everyone else was scattered around his house, eating, and raiding his precious alcohol cupboard.
The one raiding Richard's alcohol cupboard was definitely Korū.
"God, Korū, don't get drunk today," Kumori said exasperatedly in the background. Richard's eyelid twitched. How much money was he losing?
"Mh, whatever. Wasn't planning to." He grabbed a beer and went to sit beside Hikari.
Alina grunted helpfully in response to Richard's question. "'Yours' sincerely' would suffice."
"Guys, what do you think?" Richard asked, ignoring her, waving his parchment around.
"That's tiny." Liam commented.
"It has to be. Any bigger will annoy the hawk."
Cayne grabbed the sheet. "Cheers? Really?" He looked up questioningly.
"I thought Alina said 'Yours' sincerely' would be enough." Kumori took the paper from Cayne. "I mean, if they'll accept this, sure."
"Would they?" Linda queried, "How formal do you have to be when you send a message on a bird to an apparently prominent and dangerous family of witches and wizards that are prone to killing people?"
Richard shrugged. "I wrote it down before she said anything. We can do a second draft if you want." He glanced at the bird outside the window nonchalantly, way past caring. Okay, maybe he would care a little, a lot, actually, if it decided to use his house as a toilet, but he still asked, "Does it want to come in?"
A crow squawked near the window, landing on the window ledge to watch them.
"Mrrrr?" Kaguya leaped up to the window. The bird stared at him and he stared back.
Richard took the parchment back and began writing exactly the same thing on another sheet, just with "Yours' sincerely" instead, before rolling it up and stuffing it into a small tube.
"Be right back." He said, before he disappeared into a room, emerging slightly later, a feather in his hair.
"Hey, can I have that?" Liam asked, plucking the feather out of Richard's hair.
Richard frowned, "Guess so, I'm pretty sure Apollo wouldn't mind."
"You sent Apollo?" Alina asked. Richard shrugged, "Jo sent him the other day to ask if I was still alive, and he hung around for a bit. Think he'll go back after this."
Alina nodded, before pausing, "Hey, you didn't let me see him." Richard was about to answer, when they both turned as a small sound came from the window.
Kaguya was tapping it with his paw. The crow glared at him. Unfazed, Kaguya let out a cheerful purr.
"Damn, that cat is persistent," Korū muttered. "He's gotten attacked by the damn bird exactly seven times before but he still wants to befriend it."
"Misplaced perseverance at its finest." Alina said, as Richard sat back down.
"What are we gonna do for the rest of the day?" Cole asked.
Korū got up with a sigh, picked up Kaguya and placed him on the floor, then went into the room he was gonna share with Cayne. "I'm gonna try to get some sleep."
"Night." Everyone except the cats and crow chorused.
"It's not even evening yet, what the hell are you saying?" Kaguya followed Korū into the room. "God damn it, Kaguya," he muttered, but picked him up anyway.
They glanced at each other and all shrugged.
Kage and Kagami snuggled up to Hikari, purring. Kumori watched them. "Dang, I think you just stole my cat's heart."
Cole snorted loudly on hearing that.
"Bro, are you okay?" Liam asked, an impish grin on his face.
"Yeah, yeah." Cole glared at him.
"You guys wanna go out?" Richard asked.
The girls shrugged. "I dunno," Kumori said. "The cats seem very comfortable on Hikari."
"Do we wanna go to a shooting range?" Alina asked Richard.
"We'll have no house to return to." Richard pointed out.
"And I'll probably be burned with it." Linda added.
"Good point."
There was silence between Richard and Alina for a moment, before they perked up and said together, grinning, "Chess."
A few minutes later, Richard and Alina were sitting on the carpeted floor, playing against each other while Cayne, Cole and Liam decided to venture out to explore the city.
"Let's see if they make it back alive," Hikari stated.
"Mhm. Hey, Alina, move this piece," Kumori suggested.
"Shhh. I'm concentrating. Moving that piece there is instant death for my queen." the two old friends were staring intensely at the board. Any more focus, and their gazes would set the house on fire before Korū could flip them off.
"Not if he doesn't want his bishop to die." Kumori poked at one of Richard's bishops.
"How is that a fair exchange? My queen is part of my king's defence. Once I lose it I'm gonna die much faster."
"If one of your pawns reaches the other end of the chess board you can turn it into a queen anyway, so it doesn't really matter."
"And how often does that happen?"
"If you play it properly, it can happen very often." Kumori grinned. "Korū can't beat me at this."
"He's salty about it," Hikari added.
"Just let me lose in peace."
"Seriously?" Kumori asked, unbelieving.
Alina ignored her. A few minutes later, Alina sat up straight, grinned, and said, "Checkmate."
"Oh god." Richard exclaimed, burying his head in his hands.
"This is what happens when you're too confident." Alina told him smugly.
"I should have known! It was one of your deadly schemes!" Richard said dramatically, leaning back on the seat of the sofa from where they sat on the floor. "God damn it."
"...Wow." was the only thing Hikari could say, while Kumori was left speechless.
Kage jumped onto the chess board, grabbing Richard's king and running away.
"You know, it would be cool if this was the Harry Potter version of wizard's chess, but this is just a human set with a depressed wizard sitting beside it." Cayne said as the three guys came through the door, still alive.
"Oh, damn, you're alive," Hikari commented.
Kumori arched an eyebrow. "Depressed wizard?"
"Just look at him."
"Hey!" Richard said indignantly as they all turned to stare at him. "You'll be depressed too if your student just beat you in chess."
"If you're a good teacher you should be happy you taught her well."
"I guess." He shrugged, "Hey, Ali, you should thank me for passing down all my knowledge to you."
"Fat chance."
"Wait, how old are you, even?" Hikari asked.
"He's an old man with the brain of a five year-old." Alina said.
"'Scuse you, I'm only twenty-one. And I'm pretty sure you introduced me as 'A fellow Okhrana with more brains than all of us combined, excluding Linda.'"
"It's called sucking up before the favour."
"Manipulative bitch." Richard muttered, glaring playfully at Alina. "At least I'm not the one dumb enough to fall for it!" was the rebuttal. Alina yelped as Richard lunged for her, grabbing hold of her foot before she could get away.
Hikari stood up. "Well- imma go see if Korū's actually asleep." She went into the room. There were some muffled sounds, then, "Okay, well, he's not."
"I bet he's gaming."
"Really?" Cayne asked, venturing into the shared room.
"Stay alive." Cole told him, causing him to roll his eyes before disappearing through the door.
Korū was sitting on his bed, playing Minecraft, while Hikari watched over his shoulder.
"I was expecting MOBA, but this is fine too." Cayne said as he approached.
"Mh. Do you- hOLY SHIT-" Two creepers exploded beside him. He didn't stand a chance and died. "Damn." He sighed. "Do you play PUBG?"
"Yeah."
He tossed his phone at Cayne, the app already open. "Add me."
"Yessir." Cayne mumbled, chuckling. He then passed the phone back before pulling his own out.
Hikari took hers out, and Korū invited them both to a match.