"You…" Menah grumbles as we arrive. "You didn't die?"
"Wondering the same about you, old chap," Skott says.
"Rude bastard."
"And you sure spit some lavender scented crap yourself."
If memory serves right… when I first came to the apartments, I saw a weird poster of him. Yes. That must be where I saw that face before. It was quite old and torn but… something about him missing and vandalization on the poster: asking to never allow him back.
"Varon, do not be with this person. He should not even be back."
"Oh relax. This is just the soul of the dead. I'm here to haunt your ass."
Menah scoffs. "Pervert. Do you know my age? Talking about my ass…"
"Self-centred person, living in illusions. I served the military. What did you do?"
Menah snort-laughs loudly. "I served more years than your age, kid."
"I'm twenty now. Surely that's the same number."
"Liar! You were born in sixty-one."
"Talk about a creep… you remember that!"
"Oh don't you worry, nobody else in the world would care to remember."
Skott just stops talking and tilts his head, while looking down to the floor.
"Wait, are you crying?" Menah asks.
Skott throws some paper confetti in the air. "No, I'm awesome."
Menah just looks up and down. "You're cleaning that."
"Yeah fine… no, Black-one, no paper for you. Shoo!"
"Black-one? Why did you get the dog here?"
"Well, I'm keeping him."
"You?" Menah scoffs.
"Who else?"
Menah laughs. "Scenario of debate, shall we?"
"Go ahead."
"Let's all go in."
And so we go into her room.
"I thought you despised Kurius Cate," I say, and Menah just continues staring at Skott. "You mentioned a reference from it."
"I loved it once. Until this bastard told me it was a porno."
"I thought it'd bring glitter in your eye-"
"-do not throw paper confetti," Menah warns Skott.
"Yeah, alright."
"Wait, but then…" Toni says. "Why did you tell us?"
"What? I thought… wouldn't you younger kids want to watch something good?"
"I already have something good," I blurt out.
Toni tilts her head towards me, slowly, while looking confused.
"No, I mean… I have a girlfriend. Yeah. I don't… have a porno. No."
"Dude," Toni sighs and shakes her head.
"The dog's licking my toes," Menah says, calmly looking down at Black-one. "He stays here."
"You could be rotting in here, with the doors closed. What will he do, eat your bones and flesh?"
"He can: if he wants to," Menah says in a beat, staring right into Skott's soul.
"I mean… he could just bark and let us know, right?"
"Dude," I say.
"No, that doesn't count, she herself is unfazed."
I look at Menah and she is still in a staring competition with Skott.
"I think he's hungry. Shall I get something from the kitchen?" Toni gets up, as Black-one starts at her feet.
"Sit down," Menah commands with a glare, and Toni simply falls back down to the chair. "I'll burn the kitchen if you touch it."
"Yeah, no joke. She actually will do that," Skott confirms.
"How well do you both know each other?"
"He was my archenemy."
"For the record; the fuel is still burning."
"The dog stays with me," Menah says, as if concluding.
"I always cared for him. Always. I'm sure he'd prefer me."
"Varon stays in the apartment which you…" Menah says and pauses, looking at Skott. "Do you even have a apartment room to stay?"
"No, but-"
"-this isn't about winning, Skott. It is about Black-one's safety. Think beyond the wanting to win, for the sake of winning."
Skott just silently agrees while inhaling deeply.
"We could…" I say. "Have him at our room."
"I was dying to say, thank you," Toni says.
"You're one of the owner of the apartment, you could have decided."
Toni makes a smile.
"No," Menah says. "That'd be a burden. Don't you have to… ah… do your job, the chores, look after your girlfriend?"
"He wouldn't be a burden. And on the other hand, my girlfriend loves dogs."
This way, I hold Black-one on the leash, as I show him to Antonia.
"You know… we could've gone with a sister's alibi. Not just Toni, but having to convince everyone is…"
"I'm so sorry."
"That's fine," Antonia says, bending down to Black-one's level and scratching the side of his neck. "I just… I think it is a bit of a toll, the alibi. I do enjoy it but… it is a bit of a toll."
"I know that it is a whole mess."
"Not quite bad… but why do you feel so?"
"I just feel bad for having to make you to be this way… you know, behave as my girlfriend, act flirty. You have your own life. You'd… probably have someone, for all I know. I don't want this to result…"
"Hmm," Antonia says, looking straight into Black-one's eyes.
"Do you?"
Antonia stops her moving hand, and looks at me. "I do have someone important. Someone I love. But not… a lover, no," she chuckles. "Why do you ask?"
"I thought that maybe if it was the case… maybe we should breakup," I say and Antonia gives me a weird look. "It was never real to start with, so."
"And how will I meet you, with Toni around? Are you planning on changing roommates?"
"No, but… isn't it weird?"
"Which part?"
"Like, this act…"
"Which specific part?"
"Well… having to do the… faking. You know, the moaning, the… act."
"Are you suggesting we actually do it?"
Black-one whines and looks towards me.
So imagining that all of this might happen, I simply approach her by myself and ask sorry… while telling her that Black-one is going to live in the apartment.
"I have my own place, not like I live in your apartment. Is Toni fine with it?"
Right, of course… why did I even imagine that scenario?
"Yeah, she was just unsure of suggesting it by herself. Was happy when I did."
"You sure have a good roommate," Antonia says and I nod. "What are you holding? Are you holding something?"
"Oh?" I say and look at my hand forming a hold, as if holding Black-one's leash. "Just in my thoughts," I say and loosen the hold.
Antonia chuckles. "You were imagining this situation if you had brought him with you? Did you think I'd say no or something?"
Was she a mind reader? "Well, I thought it'd be better if I brought him. But Toni wanted to spend time with him. Give him a bath, and all that."
"Really a good roommate."
And we just awkwardly stand there.
"You… wanted to say something else?"
"Not really, no. I'll go."
I think I should leave her personal life and boundaries as they are. For the better.
Sigh… what do I even think of? What is wrong with me?
+
Wondering that about Toni, but sure… think about these teenager stuff first, and then save the world by finding Rahambose. No pressure. Just the two of us, and a billion people, on the line.
+
"Oh my god, are you okay?" I ask, looking at the standstill.
"Could you help me hold him down? He's angry cause I tried giving him a bath."
I pull Black-one away and put him on leash as he tries to growl and bite towards Toni, not doing a thing to me. Toni grabs a towel and covers her half-naked body.
"This didn't look weird, did it? I used to have a dog and it'd get messy with her… so I usually get half-naked."
"Dogs are frisky, it is understandable."
"He was furious when he saw me naked. Like…" Toni tries to fumble around with words in her mouth.
"Maybe it's just a him thing. Don't think anything of it… you don't… look bad."
Toni bites on her lips and I hurry to her.
"Shit, you're bleeding," I look at her knees.
"Oh yeah, we stumbled from the bathroom and… it was slippery. Didn't want him getting hurt but he was in panic and… didn't care when I got hurt. Bad dog," Toni says, and Black-one barks.
"Let's put some ointment. He didn't bite you, right?"
"No he just… wanted to scratch. Didn't touch me though."
I grab her hand and take her into my room. This way, I apply some ointment to her knee.
Realising that she hasn't realised, I put the towel properly to cover her.
"Didn't mean to look, sorry."
"No… it… thank you."
"Are you hurt anywhere else?"
And as I look at her, she comes ahead to kiss me. This goes on for a minute or two, and I push her below me, while still kissing her. The towel on her body gets loose… but I had no intention to simply just look.
After removing my shirt, she pushes me to the side and sits at the edge of the bed, holding the towel around her body.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have."
+
I sit at the chair while looking at the scene clearly… these guys went on for solid… round-off to five minutes. Almost zero groping, just wild kissing…
These guys are nuts.
+
I just lay on the bed… still thinking about what just happened. I just feel my pants to check if the zipper was open… it wasn't.
"You have a girlfriend, I… I'm not sure what I was even thinking. Just… please don't kick me out."
I still just… what happened?
Toni looks at me, because I'm silent.
"Maybe a minute. I… am confused."
She just stares at me, as I button the shirt which she had unbuttoned. She also checks herself, to see if she's covered.
"Was the kiss good?" Toni asks.
+
I kick at the glass vase, but it doesn't break.
Author… man… dude… what even. Fuck you.
+
"Y-yeah… not that… you know, yeah, generally. Nice kiss. And good going."
Toni nods.
"Did I… was I ok?"
Okay, this was ridiculous… but I needed to know. What if Rem left because…
"I had nothing to lead on but… you put a pace to it. Would… yeah, say it was good."
"Thanks."
"I'm a virgin."
"What?"
"Are you… do you have any work?"
"No… nothing comes to mind. You could say I'm free… why?"
"Could we… talk? About these stuff? New adult to new adult, you know. I… I really don't have anyone," Toni chuckles. "Yeah, that sounds sad. Sorry."
"Toni…" I say, and quickly grab and hug her.
Toni just holds my hand, and tears a bit.
"My mom… died when I was a very young age. Dad abandoned me… basically dead to me. I had to… hustle for my life and… I never had someone to just talk to, to tell how I feel. I… I don't hate that I'm a virgin but… I was never held… never loved… never kissed."
Toni squeezes my shoulder and tears more, while holding her face to my shoulder.
"I'm sorry."
"Just continue," I say, and put my hand on her head, rubbing down lightly.
---
(Speed) Pack fact 3:-
If you observe correctly, the usual chapters have a word count above 1500 words, except for chapters 5, 8, and 9. While 5. Oldest -tagonists has more than 1300 words, the chapters 8 and 9, titled 'Eyes of Need', collectively have 1600 words. Why wasn't it just included as one chapter, if they were of the same serial, or episode name? And the weirder part is, some context of the chapter is surely missing… as it holds the "------A-B-R-U-P-T-L-Y---R-E-M-O-V-E-D------" thingy… could it be Rahambose's doing or… well, it surely seems that Einya King and Endal had something going on there. Did the writer himself simply remove it maybe? But why? And what exactly was happening? Let me in, if you know about it!
See you next chapter!