"Mei? Don't you ever get tired of this?" Ms. Aikawa asked Mei who was engrossed in her writing.
"Oh never! But there are times when news, well, the good news is hard to come by. The slowest news week we had was about some streaker who went out of his dorm completely naked with nothing but a mask on." The two chuckled at her story.
"So what happened to him?" Ms. Aikawa asked, trying to find a comfortable posture to sit in her bed.
"Well, the funniest thing happened. My friend Sydney just happened to be driving to the parking area when she caught a glimpse of the weirdo. So what she did next was chase the guy in her car, pretending like she was about to run him over. Well, at least I think she was pretending." They share another laugh.
"This Sydney friend of yours sounds fun! Why don't you bring her some time, we can have a girl's night out… In my hospital room, hehe." Ms. Aikawa scratched the back of her head.
"I just texted her Isaac's address earlier and she said she would check upon him. I wonder what they're up to now." Mei wondered as she tapped the bottom of her chin with her pen.
"YOU DISGUSTING PERV! HOW DARE YOU COME OUT OF THE BATHROOM WITH NO CLOTHES ON!?" Sydney shouted furiously at Isaac who swiped a towel from the couch then darted across the room, avoiding the projectiles she was throwing at him. Rikki stayed inside the painting room, he decided that getting involved would somehow end with him being shouted at.
"I'm not used to having visitors over! I'm sorry! Please stop throwing things! No! Not the figurine!" Isaac reached out and successfully saved the figurine from being shattered into a million pieces. Just then Rikki comes out of the room and Isaac's hands seem to have separated from the towel, making it slide down awkwardly to the floor. Rikki covered his eyes but gave Isaac a thumbs up in approval.
"You ARE a pervert! GET BACK IN THERE AND DON'T COME OUT UNTIL YOU HAVE CLOTHES ON YOUR BACK!" Sydney continued to throw all manner of appliances and whatnot at Isaac until he made his way back into the bathroom.
"You gotta admit, did not expect that guy to—" Rikki was cut off by Sydney who turned to stare at him with demonic eyes. He slowly receded into the room.
"It… wasn't THAT impressive." Sydney softly muttered with her blushing face.
"What was that?" Rikki peeked his head outside to ask but was greeted with old underwear that Sydney had thrown at his face.
Half an hour had passed and Isaac finally surfaced from the bathroom. It took him half the time to get ready, and the other half to let Sydney cool down in the living room. She had cleaned up the entire living room and placed all the dirty clothes in a bin. She then swiped the violet mecha figurine from Isaac's hands and placed it above the bookcase.
"Woah! Thanks but you didn't have to go through all the trouble, Sydney." Isaac said as he wandered through a room he could barely recognize.
"It's no biggie, I just can't stand a messy and unorganized place when I see one." Sydney then looks at Isaac. "Speaking of, don't you have any other clothes? You wear the same ones every time I see you." Isaac looks at himself in the mirror.
"Well, Mei doesn't seem to mind," Sydney added.
"Wha– What does Mei have to do with this!?" Isaac jumped, his face bright red.
"Oh? Don't you like her? It's obvious" Mei casually said as she fixed the pillows on the bruised couch.
"Well… It's complicated." Isaac said, staring deeper into the mirror.
"What's complicated? You like her, she seems to like you, stop acting like a scared manga protagonist and just confess."
Sydney's words seemed to hit Isaac as he flashback to the conversation he had with his mother some nights ago in the hospital. All around him people were telling him to go for it, take the chance while there's still time.
"It's not like I don't want to," Isaac whispered to himself. Sydney notices and turns to him with a face of disappointment and irritation. Sydney walked slowly towards Isaac, crunching her fist.
"DONE! IT'S FINALLY CLEAN!" Rikki suddenly came bursting out of the room where Isaac was painting earlier.
Other than Sydney's angry remarks at Rikki, Isaac immediately rushed into the room. Sydney and Rikki followed after and saw Isaac observing the entire room. The paintings were stacked in a corner while others were hung in a much more organized way. The newspapers on the floor were set up under the canvas and the chair.
"I couldn't do anything about the paint on the walls, though I think you'd just get it dirty right after. The white chair I think should be taken out back and scrubbed down. It's not that dirty but with a little scrubbing–"
"No need." Isaac interrupted, his face growing sincere.
"Oh! Don't get me wrong, I appreciate you cleaning up and all, but this chair is something special to me. Every time I would get paint on it meant that I was losing concentration and needed a break." Isaac added.
"Oh, so that's why it's cleaner than the rest of your room," Sydney said
"Oh yeah, while cleaning I saw this." Rikki moved to the stacks of painting and picked one up from behind it.
The painting depicted a starlit background. A combo of blue and black gave the ominous dark of the sky a gush of life. At its center was a woman wearing a bright yellow outfit and a distinct yellow headband. The woman was right under a lamp post that served as a spotlight that highlighted her amidst the dark background. She was laughing to herself while extending her hand and pointing in the distance. The painting itself was incredibly detailed down to the lush eyebrows and the pearly white skin. It had the name 'Your Happiness is Mine.'
"Oi Isaac, this is Mei isn't it?" Isaac's eyes grew wide as he tried to snatch the painting from Rikki but failed miserably. Rikki passed the painting to Sydney while Rikki held Isaac's hands behind him.
"Woah, this is GOOD! This painting certainly doesn't go with how horrendous your apartment looked like earlier." Sydney said jokingly but had an impressed face on her.
Isaac broke free from Rikki's tight grip and snatched the painting from Sydney.
"Geez Isaac. It's a good painting, I don't understand why you're so touchy about it." Sydney remarked as she examined her finger.
"No! I just—" Isaac sighed.
"I'm sorry. I'm just not used to friends seeing my artworks or seeing how I make them. That's why I always present works under a pseudonym. Like the one in the trophy case in the Fine Arts department." Isaac started passionately.
"You did that?!" Sydney exclaimed.
"Was that also about Mei?" Rikki teasingly asked Isaac. All he could do was pout in response as Rikki started laughing to himself.
"But don't get me wrong dude your art is amazing! Makes me wonder why you're not inclined to take credit for them publicly." Rikki asked.
Isaac failed to respond, his eyes were fixed on the painting in his hands. A sharp noise suddenly came from outside the room.
"The coffee! I forgot I brewed some up before you guys came in!" Isaac placed the painting beside the chair and darted out of the room.
Sydney and Rikki looked at each other.
"He's hiding something, right Syd?"
"Yeah, and it's definitely about Mei."
As if they could read each other's minds, the two agreed to get to the bottom of Isaac's behavior. They exited the room and approached him in the small kitchen area where he was preparing the coffee with some bread.
"So how much sugar would you guys like?" Isaac asked while pouring coffee.
"No sugar today Aikawa!" Rikki shouted to Isaac's surprise.
"That's right! We're gonna take you out of this cave and show you a fun time so get that apron off and let's go!" Sydney proclaimed.
Isaac, who wanted to stay and continue his work, was reluctant at first. But after Sydney's intense 'persuasion' he was finally convinced to come along. He wore the same outfit but covered himself in a dark long coat. They exited the apartment and Isaac was locking up his unit.
"So you got a plan, Syd?" Rikki asked on their way down the stairs.
"I'll make one up as we go, remember what Mei told us. We can't fail here."