Week 3 of the Twelve Shots of Summer
Mission Mail: Compose a story on the theme of 'Tea Party', fail and face many people laughing at you for being unable to use such a nice prompt.
Quite sure that this is the shortest story I've ever written.
Period.
Also, there's no real 'main character', as it begins around Beat, but kind of ends on Neku.
Sigh.
Please try to enjoy if you can XD
Just Another Day
"A... Tea party?" The skateboarder's mouth opened slightly as he tried to understand what his sister had just said.
"Right!" His sibling raised a finger, as if to drive the point home, and beamed, "it was Shiki's idea; she said that it would be nice if we could all sit down and just relax for once, since we're always so hyper." She giggled, then closed her eyes and put on a thoughtful expression, "'a change is as good as a rest', after all."
"Yeah, but this change is a rest, yo; why not just rest widdout the change, you know?" He complained, and set his board down, sitting down on the edge of the half-pipe.
"Oh come on, it'll be fun, I promise!" She pleaded, bowing whilst clapping her hands together, "how do you know you won't like it, if you don't try it?"
"I dunno, a 'tea party' sounds like somethin' for a buncha old people who can't run no more." He expressed his amusingly stereotypical predetermination of a tea party, "man, I ain't no geezer."
"No, no, not at all!" She insisted, "'the tea party provides the Imagination that rejuvenates old Souls.'"
"... Yo Rhyme, didja make that up jus' now?" The blond teenager scratched his head through his beanie, and smiled at his sister, Rhyme Bito.
"... Yeah, I did." Rhyme's cheeks turned pink as she made an embarrassed smile, and buried her face into her hands, running her fingers through her similarly-blonde hair, "'an old fox need learn no craft', huh?'"
"You gotta keep it short an' sweet, yo," he advised Rhyme while grinning, "it's jus' like you say..." He said as he grabbed his skateboard, and dropped into the half-pipe, flying high into the air, "'levity is the soul of wit'!" He shouted as he spun around in midair, before tumbling back down and skidding to a stop.
Rhyme couldn't help but laugh at her brother's 'adage'.
"Well, Beat... I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks." She tilted her head to the side, wearing that signature optimistic smile of hers.
"I ain't old Rhyme, I told you!"
Beep, beep
Neku Sakuraba jumped as his phone rung; it had been almost a month since the Reapers' Game, but that familiar beeping still startled him.
Beat...? Neku thought to himself as he answered the call.
"Hey, Beat-"
"PHONES, YO, YOU GOTTA HELP ME, MAN!"
Neku's hand and head reflexively shot away from each other as far as they could; he paused for a moment, inspecting his right ear; it seemed to still be working, although, now a few people in the street were staring at him, making him uncomfortable.
Neku slowly brought the phone back to his ear, but the muscles in his arm remained tense, ready to bring it away again.
"... What do you need, Beat?" intentionally not mentioning that the nickname no longer suited him; Beat had continued to call him 'Phones' long after he abandoned them, but Neku didn't mind.
"Phones, man, agh..." Beat let out a sound halfway between a groan and a whine, it reminded Neku of the time that he had forgotten to finish a school project, and subsequently tracked Neku down for help, (he had tackled him, so as to not let him get away.)
"What's up? If it's maths again, you just need to ap-"
"Nah man, it's..." Beat cut in, but promptly trailed off, inciting a sigh from Neku, '... You know that party thing that Shiki be hostin'?"
"Yeah, she told me; tomorrow, righ-"
"Righ', righ', righ'," Beat interrupted, "anyway... Rhyme roped me into it, an' now I have to COOK something, yo!" His voice practically oozed horror.
"Hey, don't sweat it; everyone's makin-"
"LISTEN to me, man!" Beat made a series of 'I- I can't's, before finally proclaiming, "I can't cook fo' CRAP!"
"... Beat, you don't have to make something if you don't w-"
"Phones, if I blow this, Rhyme'll look REAL bad, yo..." Beat worried, meanwhile, Neku was becoming increasingly impartial to the idea that this was a one-sided conversation, "You made that chocolate-phone thing fo' Shiki, right? You gotta show me how!"
Neku almost stumbled, he didn't think that anyone else had remembered his ill-fated attempt to mold homemade chocolate into a phone, as a present to Shiki Misaki; she had enjoyed eating the misshapen mass, but he internally promised himself to get Shiki a nicer-looking gift next time.
"... Alright, I'll see what I can do."
"GREAT! I'll be right over, yo!" Beat rejoiced, and hung up before Neku could respond.
'Right over'...? I guess he means my place... Neku chuckled, and turned around, running back home, smiling.
"Dammit, Beat... Don't make up other peoples' minds up for them."
"Mmm!" Shiki murmured pleasantly as her eyes widened in wonder, "this cake tastes great, Rhyme!" She complimented her, adjusting her glasses cheerfully.
"Yeah, you can really taste that tangerine..." Neku nonchalantly remarked while reaching for another slice.
"Aw, thanks everyone, but remember, 'flattery is all right, so long as you don't inhale'." Rhyme smiled bashfully, and cut herself a piece of her own.
Beat was the only one who wasn't fawning over Rhyme's cake, he had been shifting around in his seat all afternoon.
"Beat, what's wrong?" Shiki asked him, "have some, it's so yummy!" She squealed and took another forkful with a sip of tea; Neku and Rhyme looked at each other, and resumed eating.
"... A'IIIGHT!" Beat stood up theatrically as soon as Rhyme's cake had been finished, "'smy turn now!" Shiki recoiled into the couch from the unexpected shout.
"B-Beat, are you alright...?" Shiki stammered, still a little flustered; Neku and Rhyme ignored them and kept drinking what was left of their tea.
"Just let him do what he wants," Rhyme sighed to Neku, and made a 'what can you do' kind of smiling face, "sugar, please."
"Got it," Neku murmured and slid a jar of sugar cubes over to Rhyme, "here you go."
"Thanks."
"Uh, guys...?" Shiki attempted to get their attention as Beat dashed off to the kitchen to prepare the dish that he and Neku had practiced.
"NUUAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!" Beat let out a battle-cry, and viciously brought the butcher's knife down, and down again.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Dinner is served, yo!" Beat stomped back into the living room and laid down four bowls of... "It's curry ramen, dig in!"
"..." Shiki looked at Beat, and then at Neku and Rhyme, who avoided her gaze; she sighed and picked up a pair of chopsticks as Beat sat down and attempted to pretend that he wasn't dying to know what everyone thought.
Rhyme looked at her bowl, full of ramen, but with a small portion of curry laid out on a little platform in the bowl; she reached for her chopsticks, and lowered her voice.
"... Neku, I thought you showed him how to make chocolate-"
"I did, I just- I don't even know..." Neku let out a long sigh, and raised a bundle of not-so-appealing noodles.
"... What did you two even do? What happened?"
"Beat, get the chocolate over the steam, and make sure-"
"Phones, where the curry be at?"
"... What?"
"Curry, where's it at, yo?"
"... Beat, we're making chocolate."
"It don't matter, yo; when you cook, you need curry! It's like the insproken truth of life."
"What."
"Nothing, nothing happened." Neku shut his eyes and took a bite...
"... Oh, wow...!" Shiki accidently let the words out of her mouth, and grabbed another bundle of ramen.
"... It's good, Beat!" Neku could hear the surprise in Rhyme's voice, and just like her, was pleasantly surprised at the taste of the ramen; he swirled some of the noodles in his curry, and put it in his mouth.
"... It's pretty nice."
Beat spasmed in his seat before once again assuming the 'I don't care' stance.
"O-... Oh? Izzat right? Well, I mean... Yeah, when I cook, yo, I cook, you know what I'm sayin'?" He said uncertainly, grabbing a cup of tea, and drinking it with his pinky lifted, looking quite ridiculous.
"... I don't think he planned for it to go this well." Neku laughed quietly to Rhyme.
"Yeah, maybe he's a secret genius chef, or something like that...!" Rhyme giggled, "Shiki, how is it?"
"Don't bother," Neku chuckled, "when she's eating something like this, you can't get her attention."
"'ey yo! Whadda you mean 'somethin' like this', Phones?"
"Ah, no Beat, I- nrgh!"
Beat pulled Neku into a headlock and started grinding his knuckles into his scalp, while Rhyme tried to stop him; Shiki, oblivious to her surroundings, continued eating.
Haha... Yep. Neku thought to himself.
"Ahh, Beat let him go...!" Rhyme said, flustered.
It's just another day.
Okay, now that that's over, please go check out the other Twelve Shots of Summer submissions, they are good, good stories :P
Also, if you have time, please have a look at X Days, because guess what? I updated!
Yaayyy...
...
I think I need to sleep now.
XD
Later!