It’s been around a little less than a month since the government issued an order for everyone to stay in their houses. Everything had been chaotic due to a certain virus spreading around the world, and it’s safe to say almost everyone and their families are affected… including me, my cat, and my neighborhood.
“I wonder when this will end…?” I whispered as I looked out of the window. It was around 01:00 PM in the afternoon, and outside looked incredibly peaceful - almost as if there wasn’t a world crisis going on… ah, I really want to go outside…
No, no, no! Do yourself - and all the health workers out there - a favor and stay at home…!
“But I’m super bored…”
I looked down to see my black cat looking up at me as if he’s had enough of my ramblings.
“Meow.”
He meowed, and honestly, he’s a really, really strange cat. It always feels like I understand what he says. Even as I picked him off the street, when I was about to name him Coal, he meowed really, really loudly and for some reason, the words: ‘I’m not Coal, I’m Grim!!’ appeared inside my head. At first I was super confused, but now I just think that yes, I guess strange things do happen in real life, and yes, my cat is maybe, probably, most likely, a telepath. Oh, by the way, what he said just now was: 'You’re so noisy’. He’s really arrogant for a creature living on the canned tunas I bought him.
I was about to say something to him when suddenly, my doorbell rang.
Ding-dong!
“Comingー”
Ding-dong! Ding-ding-ding-ding-dong!
“This annoying way of pushing the doorbell… it must be him.”
I sighed as I stood up (Grim had already jumped off of my lap at this point), and walked towards the door.
“Yeah, yeah, what do you want, Ace?”
I said, as I opened the door. As expected, the greeting me behind the door was Ace Trappola, one of my neighbors. He lives in a share house around two houses away from mine, along with his buddies. Sometimes he visits with Deuce Spade, his bestie-slash-rival, and the two of them (plus Grim) would make a mess out of my house… though, now that we’re in quarantine, I have to say I miss their antics… by quite a lot.
“Hey!” He pulled down his mask (good children don’t copy him! Keep it on, that’s the whole purpose of the thing!) and grinned as he called my name. His smile has an inexplicable quality to it: it makes you want to smile as well… and truth to be told, perhaps what I need now is someone like him - someone akin to sunshine - to make me feel better. And so, I smiled back, quickly forgetting my irritation of him pushing my doorbell five times in succession.
“What’s up?” I asked, and then I noticed the two big grocery bags on his hands. “Just got back from groceries?”
Ace sighed, “Yeah, I lost the battle.”
“Battle?”
“They were cheating!” He suddenly yelled, “We were playing a game where we each eat a Super Hot Extra Spicy Devil’s Onigiri made by Dorm Leader and Trey-senpai and the one who gave up and drank water first lose,” he explained.
There are so many things I wanted to comment on, but for your information, I’ve actually already asked him regarding his calling Riddle Rosehearts, one of his housemate, as 'dorm leader’. I mean, it’s not like they’re in a dorm, and dorm leader sounds very… school-ish of him (despite all of them being university students like me), so I got curious. He answered that it’s just a habit he’s had, since, you know, Riddle acts like a dorm leader. I’m inclined to agree with him, though, since Riddle’s way of talking and behavior is very much like an upright class president.
“ーI bet they used Trey-senpai’s magic and…”
His last words piqued interest my as I tilted my head to the side, “Magic?”
He looked at me in horror for one second, before he switched back to the usual Ace, “U-uh, uhm, I mean, I bet since Trey-senpai’s the one making the onigiri, he rigged it so I got the spiciest one!”
I eyed him in suspicion, but then decided to let go. Oh well, Ace and Deuce both tend to say weird stuff - especially Deuce. Though Ace always seems to cover for him when that happens.
“Ahaha, and I bet that’s Cater-san’s idea.”
“You bet it is!” Ace grumbled, cursing under his breath. I think I heard him saying 'I’ll get you when I’m back, damn yankee honor student!’ (most probably referring to Deuce), but I’ll just, uh, pretend I heard nothing.
“So? What brings you here?” I asked finally, after Ace calmed down a tad bit.
“Oh! Yeah, Dorm Leader asked me to give this to you,” he said, as he handed me one of the bags he has on him. Different from the rest of his shopping bags, this one is red, made of paper and has a cute checkered pattern on it.
“What’s this?” I asked, as I took it from his hand.
“Handmade cookies. Don’t worry, Trey-senpai made it together with Dorm Leader so it should taste good.”
“Trey-san’s cookies…!” I looked at it, and then at Ace, in gratitude. “Thank you, Ace!!”
I smiled widely - oh, to eat Trey’s heavenly cookies again…! - as hugged the paper bag Ace gave me. However, for some reason Ace’s face turned red… and his expression’s kinda mixed.
“Stop that,” He pushed his free hand on to my face, “It’s distracting!”
“Huh!?” I jolted in surprise. “What’s wrong!?”
“…Nothing,” Ace replied with a pout, “Anyways, I’ll be going home now. Can’t make the tyrant dorm leader wait for too long.”
“…?” I gave him a last questioning look, but then I nodded, “Okay, take care, Ace!”
“Yeah, see ya later! Don’t die, 'kay?”
“Out of boredom, probably,” I laughed, “But I’ll do my best. Oh, and please tell Trey-san and Riddle-san thanks for the cookies! I’ll make something in return tomorrow.”
“Sure, sure,” Ace replied, “'Kay, bye for real now!”
Ace gave me one last smile and turned around to go home. I sent him off from the porch, and then I went back to the house, grinning as I imagined myself eating the heavenly snack that was Trey and Riddle’s cookies, and I closed off the door.
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